The Rural Voice, 1989-07, Page 57r
r
WHAT'S NEW
SOIL BACTERIA EAT
CHEMICAL RESIDUES
by Ian Wylie-Toal
Recently isolated soil bacteria could
spell the end of a chronic problem asso-
ciated with pesticide use: how to get rid
of empty chemical containers safely.
Dr. Ram Behki, a scientist at Agri-
culture Canada's Land Resource Re-
search Centre in Ottawa, has isolated
bacteria which degrade thiocarbamate
herbicides such as EPTC (Eptam) and
butylate (Sutan +) into carbon dioxide
and other non-toxic substances.
These bacteria, which live in the soil,
have been the object of much scientific
enquiry because their actions affect
thiocarbamates in the soil. The isolation
of the bacteria, Dr. Behki says, was
"really aimed at the performance of the
herbicide after application."
If scientists can understand how the
bacteria degrade thiocarbamates, they
can alter the herbicides to enhance per-
sistence.
Isolating the bacteria has proved to
be a tentative first step towards under-
standing the process. Scientists have
been trying for 25 years to find them.
Dr. Behki says he used a different tech-
nique — "not radically different" —and
was just lucky in succeeding where
others had failed.
The possibility that these bacteria
could be used to clean up pesticide
containers is a bonus. Dr. Behki says the
process would be simple. Farmers
would merely "throw some bacteria into
an empty container" and add a substrate
to provide nutrition. According to
Behki, "in a day or two the chemical
residues are gone."
After treatment, the containers
would have to be steamed in order to kill
the bacteria. Dr. Behki doesn't want the
bacteria "to hang around and degrade
herbicide applied by the farmer."
Scientists, Dr. Behki adds, are work-
ing with other bacteria to clean up a
range of chemicals. "If we have the
same luck as with this one," he says,
"we'll have something to talk about."
He warns that this will take time — it is
a slow process and they only have "one
and a half or two" people working on it
right now.
As Dr. Behki's research is largely
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JULY 1989 55