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Trees cause pollution?

  
 
grant
19:00 / 14.10.04
New Scientist reports on a Princeton University study that finds...

...Industry has dramatically cut its emissions of pollutants, called volatile organic compounds. But those cuts have been more than offset by the amount of VOCs churned out by trees.

...The researchers used the US Forest Service Industry Analysis, a database of 250,000 randomly sampled forest plots around the country, and the known VOC emission rate for each tree species for the study.

They calculated that vegetal sources of monoterpenes and isoprene rose by up to 17% from the 1980s to the 1990s – equivalent to three times the industrial reductions.
 
 
Our Lady Has Left the Building
10:23 / 15.10.04
Two questions/points spring to mind:

1) Do trees produce these naturally, or is this something that they do when the air is already polluted?

2) Even if they do, so what? We still need trees for oxygen generation. If they do produce pollutants (and on our terms, humans produce pollutants as we breathe out carbon dioxide) then this would mean we would need tougher anti-pollution laws to offset this additional source of pollution.

Why do I suspect that Shrubya and the EvilMegaCorps are going to try and use this as an excuse to cut down more trees and pollute more, because the trees started it?
 
  
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