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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Cleaning/Containing Mercury
  • Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:35:07 -0400

On 6/11/2010 11:06 AM, John Thomas Naisbitt wrote:
Cuauhtemoc,

I would recommend you contact Paul Stammets at www.fungiperfecti.com after
"brisking" through the info within "Mycoremediation, Fungal Bioremediation",
Harbhajan Singh, 2006, it appears that there is at least one white rot
fungi, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, which bio absorbs heavy metals including
Mercury. Paul has pioneered some techniques in mycoremediation in the state
of Washington and may be of some help if this is a direction which you wish
to pursue.

There are other methods used in artificial wetlands systems utilizing
aquatic plants as bioacumulators. As far as final containment of the Mercury
bearing waste product, I draw a blank...... but compost is out of the
picture.

Regarding using constructed wetlands & arrays of aquatic plants and various aquatic organisms to bioremediate mercury John Todd,
formerly of New Alchemy Institute at Cape Cod, would probably be of great help. He is now involved with these organizations:

John Todd
Sustainable Water Management
http://toddecological.com/
John Todd Ecological Design
Post Office Box 497
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Contact Us: http://toddecological.com/company/contact.php

+ 1.508.548.2545 V
+ 1.508.540.3962 F
info@toddecological.com

Ocean Arks International
http://www.oceanarks.org/index.php
Ocean Arks International, founded in 1981 by visionary Ecological Designer Dr. John Todd, is a global leader in the field of ecological water purification. In response to the alarming rate of natural resource exploitation and depletion, our mission is to disseminate the ideas and practices of ecological sustainability throughout the world.

As of 2005 all of Ocean Arks International's commercial projects are handled by John Todd Ecological Design, Inc. For more information call 508-548-2545 or see www.toddecological.com.


Somewhere there must be lists of plants that bioaccumulate mercury;
maybe in-depth Google, Google Books and Google Scholar searches
would uncover useful references.


Another collection to search through:
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/orgfarm/bioremediation/
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/orgfarm/
From this archive (and there may be more there):

Lemon-Scented Geraniums, possibly genetically-modified varieties
to clean up toxic soils:
"Their research has found that the familiar flowering plant has an
uncanny ability to absorb metal and organic pollutants which could help to detoxify everything from abandoned gas station sites to old mining lands."
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/orgfarm/bioremediation/lemon.scented.geraniums-for.toxic.cleanup

Here's a reference on using Tulip Poplar trees to remediate mercury-contaminated soils:
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/orgfarm/bioremediation/remediation.of.mercury-contaminated-sites.with.tulip.poplars
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 05:31:15 PDT
From: J. S. <janebug@hotmail.com>
Cc: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu
Subject: Re: Lem. Ger. to clean toxic soils

Might refer you all also to the use of tulip poplars to clean up mercury contaminated sites--they are able to convert it and release it into the air in a less harmful form.

And another on using transgenic trees:
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/orgfarm/bioremediation/soil-mercury-remediation-by-transgenic-trees.txt
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 08:02:45 -0400
Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group
<SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
From: jcummins <jcummins@UWO.CA>
Subject: soil phytoremediation using transgenic trees

July 2, 2002
Prof. Joe Cummins
e-mail: jcummins@uwo.ca
"Soil mercury remediation by transgenic trees"
Soil mercury pollution can be a major chronic pollution hazard. Most of
the sites are historical industrial sites , gold mining, in particular,
may still use primitive "quicksilver" gold extraction that pollutes soil
and waterway. In many areas the soil pollution may be of geological
origin rather than a result of human activity. Currently, atmospheric
deposition of mercury is a leading pollution problem in the cities and
wild lakes of the northern countries. Most of the problem is associated
with fossil fuels and medical waste incineration.
Plots of land that are polluted with high levels of mercury are planned
to be Phytoremediated using trees that are modified to take up the ionic
mercury or organic mercury, convert it to less toxic elemental mercury
then expel it the atmosphere where it will be safely diluted before it
is diluted (1,2,3). The environmental risk assessment by the proponents
of transgenic phytoremediation argued that mercury emissions from the
treated sites would be below the current emission levels for elemental
mercury, elemental mercury is retained in the atmosphere for up to two
years during which time it is diluted to "non toxic" levels before
precipitation (4). The proponents also argued that would negligible in
comparison to fossil fuel burning and hospital waste incineration (4).
Finally, the proponents argued that feeding animals would be exposed to
less mercury than from conventional plants because elemental mercury
was so rapidly released from the plant tissue (4). The proponents believed that the genes from mercury emission would not be transferred to non-transgenic plants (4).
The proponents risk assessment seemed very uncritical and quite
unrealistic. Elemental mercury does remain in the atmosphere for up to
two years but always precipitates in rain and snow. The arctic acts as a
trap to condense the fallen mercury but all of the northern communities
including large eastern North America cities suffer growing mercury
accumulation from precipitation. It is clear that the precipitated
elemental mercury is rapidly converted to ionic and organic mercury once
it is deposited.
What phytoremediation will do is to relocate soil mercury from
contaminated soil sites in southerly communities and redistribute the
mercury to the northern communities. There are a large number of sites
with mercury contaminated soil and sediment along with the geological
areas of high mercury content. For example, the crude gold mining
techniques used along the Amazon left elevated soil mercury levels. If
that area were to be phytoremediated the mercury released to the
atmosphere would likely precipitate in the cities on northern United
States and Canada and impact heavily in the Arctic. Emitted mercury
condensed in the ocean will reappear on the dinner tables of the world
from bioaccumulation through the food chain.
Based on the current experience with transgenic crops it is certain that
some transgenic pollen and seed will escape. Populating expansive areas
of geological mercury pollution with mercury transgenic trees ( which
would be selected for) could lead to a global catastrophe.
The US EPA seems rather schizophrenic in supporting the research on
mercury phytoremediation by air emission while supporting major projects
in reducing atmospheric mercury deposition. The United Nations should
play a major role in regulating the global atmospheric deposition of
mercury and other volatile pollutants.
References
1. Rugh,C,Senecff,J,Meagher,R and Merkle,,S "Development of transgenic
yellow poplar for mercury phytoremediation" 1998 Nature Biotech 16,925-6
2. Bizily,S,Rugh,C and Meagher,R "Phytoremediation of hazardous
organomercurials by genetically engineered plants" 2000 Nature Biotech.
18,213-5
3. Kramer,U and Chardonnens,A "The use of transgenic plants in the
bioremediation of soils contaminated with trace elements" 2001 Appl
Microbiol Biotechnol. 55,661-72
4. Pilon-Smits,E and Pilon,M "Breeding mercury-breathing plants for
environmental cleanup"2000 Trends in Plant Science 5,235-6




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