Torchbearer: Spring 1997

Microbes Picnic on Pollution

Genetically engineered microorganisms to clean up hazardous waste were used outdoors for the first time last fall in a UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory experiment.

Dr. Gary Sayler, UTK microbiologist, used the microbes at an ORNL hazardous waste test-site contaminated with napthalene, a common industrial solvent.

Sayler said using microbes to remove pollution from soil will be less expensive than the present method of burning the contaminated soil. He said the microbes pose no threat to humans or the environment.

The microbes are common bacteria from chemically contaminated soil in New York. They were genetically engineered to produce light as they eat hazardous waste and break it down into harmless by-products.