The federal government is funding a field trial of genetically modified trees near Quebec City. Researchers with the Canadian Forest Service say it will help protect the country's natural forests.

Researchers have planted a plot of 400 genetically modified spruce and poplars in the woods near Val Cartier.

Trees are genetically modified to resist spruce budworm, seen here

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Research scientist Armand Séguin of the Canadian Forest Service says it is the only field trial of transgenic trees in the country.

The trees look normal, he says, but they have an extra gene to protect them from spruce budworm and other insects without resorting to pesticides.

Unmodified spruce trees

Séguin says there's no chance the modified trees will cross-pollinate with their neighbours either during or after the field test.

"We have to monitor for five years after the end of trial to make sure there is no trace of that material in the environment, and everything has to be destroyed by burning," says Séguin.

He acknowledges genetically modified plants are a controversial subject. If the trees are mass produced, researchers won't follow the same path as the agriculture industry, which Séguin says caught Canadians off guard.

"For me, it looks more like playing with genetics for the fun of playing with genetics because you're able to do it," says Louis Bélanger of the Quebec's Union for Nature Conservation.

Bélanger says there should be further public consultations before more federal government money is spent on the research, no matter what the potential benefits are.