Tobacco May Help Clean Up Pond Scum Toxin

Tobacco May Help Clean Up Pond Scum Toxin.

Discovery News (3/10) reports tobacco, helped by "a couple extra genes" may disarm "a dangerous environmental toxin, called toxic pond scum," which "is a type of algae that makes water unsafe for drinking, swimming, fishing or watering crops." Pond scum poses "a big problem in the developing world," said Pascal Drake, a plant biotechnologist at St. George's University of London, who along with "colleagues found that genetically engineered plants could produce generic antibody proteins that bind" to toxins, making "them less dangerous." The article notes, "by proving that the principle is possible, engineered tobacco is paving the way for a new generation of plants that could clean up environmental problems - and do it cheaply."