Industrial chemical-eating microbe found

Virginia, July 04: Scientists have identified a microbe that gobbles up toxic waste deep underground, a potential remedy for hundreds of contaminated aquifers across the country near industrial and military sites.
The bacterium, known as BAV1, was found in soil samples 20 feet deep at a contaminated site in Oscoda, Michigan.


Microbiologist Frank Loeffler said that it flourished in the packed earth where there was no oxygen, feeding off toxic compounds commonly known for making plastic pipe and food wrap.

Most importantly, it thrives underground on vinyl chloride, one of the most common and hazardous industrial chemicals that can linger in the soil for hundreds of years.

Vinyl chloride is present at about a third of toxic "uperfund" sites listed by the Environmental Protection Agency. It usually accumulates as a deteriorated form of more complex organic compounds found in dry cleaning fluid and metal cleansers.



Brief contact with vinyl chloride has been known to cause dizziness, drowsiness, and headaches. Long-term exposure will increase the risk of a rare form of liver cancer, according to the EPA.



Loeffler has already tested the bacterium on vinyl chloride at the contaminated site in Michigan. Its ability to eat the toxic compound - rendering it harmless - was hastened in one test by adding plant fertiliser and other nutrients to the soil.

In another trial, vinyl chloride was destroyed by injecting the soil with concentrated amounts of BAV1 developed in the lab. Bureau Report