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Fungi May Help With Asbestos Cleanups

Posted by timothy on from the repurposing dept.

Makarand writes "Asbestos cleanups are tricky as disturbed soil can disperse and make asbestos fibers airborne. Now scientists are developing bioremediation measures that involve allowing iron-gathering fungi to grow on asbestos contaminated soil and render the asbestos harmless according to this article in Nature. The toxicity of asbestos is partly due to its iron content and microorganisms can help by removing it from the asbestos. Also, the fungi bind asbestos fibers into a web making it difficult for them to become airborne. Identifying the asbestos-attacking genes and introducing them into other microorganisms may be the next step in fighing asbestos pollution."

14 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. Good news by kruetz · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This sounds like a great but increasingly rare achievement - scientists getting somewhere that actually benefits the world (although I thought that asbestos problems had been mostly solved by removing it from all buildings, etc). I'm sick and tired of reading in the papers about all sorts of trivial or "pop-science" experiments being done by scientists in a last-ditch effort to either get funding or exposure.

    Imagine if they could extend this to handle diseases and other toxic chemicals - it could spell a much safer world for everyone. No more anthrax-in-envelopes killing people! Far less dangerous workplaces at chemical production plants. Way to go!

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    1. Re:Good news by sprzepiora · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The technology has been around for a long time to use bio-remediation techniques for a lot of chemicals. They have been in use too, I worked on a spill once that was using "critters" to clean gasoline from soil. While it was working it turned the soil a nice shade of purple.

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      Stupid things kids do.
    2. Re:Good news by barakn · · Score: 4, Informative

      It is incorrect to assume "that asbestos problems had been mostly solved by removing it from all buildings, etc." Unfortunately, asbestos will be around for a long time. Consider the case of Libby, MT. For years this town's residents mined vermiculite contaminated with tremolite, a very hazardous form of asbestos. This vermiculite was used as insulation, potting soil, came home to families on miners' clothing, etc., and so almost the entire town is now contaminated. Rates of rare cancers have sky-rocketed. Also consider the World Trade Center's asbestos. Luckily it was only used on the first 40 floors of the North tower and half of it was later removed, but still the dust that coated lower Manhattan was contaminated with the stuff. Controversy still swirls around issues of the cleanup and its costs.

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      "I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show
    3. Re:Good news by sl3xd · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This sounds like a great but increasingly rare achievement - scientists getting somewhere that actually benefits the world

      It's precicely that kind of attitude that gives science a bad name.

      It's also rubbish. Science has done more to help humanity than you realize, and in more ways than you choose to believe. Scientists are not about destroying the world, but they are about discovering as much as possible about it, in as inobtrusively as possible.

      Then, if somebody finds a use for whatever they discover, so be it. But that's the business end of the deal, and has little to do with science, or understanding.

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      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    4. Re:Good news by Radish03 · · Score: 2, Informative

      although I thought that asbestos problems had been mostly solved by removing it from all buildings, etc

      My High School was built in 1953, and the asbestos in it have never been removed. In fact, a few days ago I went wandering with a stage crew friend and she showed me all the neat places like up above the auditorium ceiling (200 or so feet above the ground, much fun) and there were all sorts of comforting "DANGER: ASBESTOS" signs up there. And its not like this area is shut off from the rest of the school; just walk through a doorway, climb up two ladders and you're there. I know that a couple rooms in this area of the school have been closed off and students told they are definitly not allowed to be there any more due to the asbestos in the air, though. But yeah, asbestos is definitly still a problem, even in public buildings. (and schools!)

      If there is no "immediate danger" with the asbestos, they don't go about removing it from buildings. It is left there until they have to remove it, which I think my school is (finally) going to do pretty soon when the start rennovating.

    5. Re:Good news by gene_tailor · · Score: 2, Informative
      Very good point-- getting asbestos out of buildings isn't the only problem to deal with here. Asbestos is a naturally occuring mineral that is fairly common in certain places, for example in Montana and central California. When asbestos was being used in construction and many other products (most heavily in 1940's to 70's) it was mined extensively. The tailings from such mines are pretty hazardous.

      Here's another example of a cleanup site, the Coalinga Mine Superfund Site, at the EPA site , an area that is, fortunately, much more sparsely populated than Libby, MT. It's interesting to note that major aspects of the cleanup were to tear the buildings down then bury all the debris, divert a stream away from the tailings pile, and put up a fence.... I'm sure there are much worse sites but it sure sounds like "file it and forget about it" to me. Let's get some fungi in there to actually chemically break down some of that asbestos.

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      It also occurs to me that if one was drowning, yelling "Help! I'm drowning and I lost my bikini top" would probably be m
  2. I'll loan them the stuff growing in my bathroom. by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 4, Funny

    That stuff will grow on anything. Just feed it a steady diet of chlorox and water.

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  3. Disclaimer by PaddyM · · Score: 2, Funny

    ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA may also eat carrots from your garden. Do not place ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA near iron i-beams. ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA has been found to cause cancer in ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA. And like coffee, ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA is good for the heart, bad for the heart, stimulating, depressing, addicting, and tastes terrible on Mondays.

    1. Re:Disclaimer by Captain+Nitpick · · Score: 2, Funny
      ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA may also eat carrots from your garden. Do not place ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA near iron i-beams. ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA has been found to cause cancer in ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA. And like coffee, ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA is good for the heart, bad for the heart, stimulating, depressing, addicting, and tastes terrible on Mondays.

      Do not taunt ASBESTOS-EATING-BACTERIA.

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      But then again, I could be wrong.
  4. Re:Good news --is it really that rare? by gene_tailor · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Perhaps you aren't reading the right sources? The newspapers *choose* to report on "pop-science", but that doesn't mean that that is all that is going on in scientific research!

    The scientists doing the routine baby-steps-forward type of work, especially in non-sexy areas of research, are not the ones getting the big publicity. With regards to this topic in particular, there are many scientists working on bioremediation efforts with biological organisms, including bacteria that metabolize toxic chemicals or "treat" sewage or oil spills, plants that absorb heavy metals, etc. Try doing some searches for more info and you might be surprised what is already possible.

    Disclosure: I'm a scientistst, so I'm biased to believe that many scientists are doing something beneficial for the world...

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    It also occurs to me that if one was drowning, yelling "Help! I'm drowning and I lost my bikini top" would probably be m
  5. Cleaning up... by DaveOnNet · · Score: 3, Interesting


    Did they also come up with something to get rid of the fungi once all the asbestos is gone?

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  6. Is it American fungus? by Hubert_Shrump · · Score: 2, Funny

    Because I can see all the cancer-of-the-golgi-apparatus lawsuits a mile away...

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    Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
  7. Re:What happens by k98sven · · Score: 4, Interesting

    when that excess iron enters the food chain? People talk about GM crops, but things like this are where the danger lies.

    Oh, please.. get a clue. This is IRON we're talking about,
    one of the most well-known substances around.
    (our knowledge goes back to.. well, the iron age..)

    Iron does *not* bioaccumulate.

    Iron has a low level of toxicity, almost all cases of iron-poisoning are
    due to children swallowing large amounts of iron tablets.

    Also, the risk of this bacteria spreading is minimal. Being able to eat asbestos does not provide you with any evolutionary advantages.

    You might as well propose a ban on cast-iron skillets.

  8. OSR by kippy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Skinner: Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.
    Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
    Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
    Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
    Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
    Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
    Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.

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    Blaze a trail to the New World