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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."

4 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 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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  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. 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.