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Higher Plant Bioremediation
| Article
# : |
20082 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1992 |
2,804 Words |
| Author
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Glenn W. Bedell
Glenn W. Bedell is a senior research scientist for Global
Advanced Technologies, Inc., in El Paso, Texas, and for
Intelligent Monitoring Systems in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Formerly, he was coprincipal investigator of the TNT
bioremediation project located at New Mexico State
University, Las Cruces. The research was conducted for the
U.S. Department of Energy-funded Waste Management Education
and Research Consortium (WERC) of New Mexico. |
Until Homo sapiens became the dominant life-form and initiated the Industrial Revolution, the waste removal achieved by the joint action of bacteria and fungi served nature quite well. Today, however, with over 5 billion people on earth, nature's system of decay is overwhelmed. People are generating so much waste matter that waste disposal has become one of the greatest problems on earth. Wastes are sources not only of pollution and ugliness but of disease.
In addition to the urgent need for improved methods of processing wastes as they are produced, there is a massive need for improved methods of waste-site remediation, that is, cleaning up existing, heavily polluted sites.
Early efforts toward remediation of waste sites relied on conventional technologies such as excavation, hauling, and incineration. The cost of such processes has redirected attention toward lower-cost, in situ remediation (remediation occurring in place, not requiring removal). In situ remediation processes based on a variety of technologies have been and are being developed. Among them, bioremediation (biologically based pollution cleanup) using microorganisms has been demonstrated to be effective and relatively inexpensive.
In considering the full range of possible remediation solutions, the higher plants are reasonable candidates as well. Unlike animals, which can run away from their problems, plants are fixed; they must survive environmental challenges or die. Survival potential in a changing environment demands a broad array of defenses. Research now under way shows that biochemical defense mechanisms within plants can convert many toxic substances to less toxic, or even harmless, constituents.
Many of the pollutant chemicals produced by modern society are complex carbon-based (organic) molecules, so it is noteworthy that humankind already harvests a wide variety of complex organic molecules from plants. These include rubber, turpentine, and the medicines atropine and quinine. Because higher plants are capable of synthesizing complex organic compounds from simple components, it is reasonable to assume that they may be able to perform the reverse process--breaking down complex organic compounds into simple components.
Recent investigations with higher plants have shown that they can remediate certain toxic organic substances. These studies were conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory and New Mexico State University, at the Federal Agricultural
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