These folks are certainly into some wild stuff. It would be great if they could listen to their own hype a little more and really focus on improving human health. Right now it looks more like they are using specialized genetically engineered plants to extract money from government agencies. Their project here in Hartford a few years back allowed a college professor and her students to experiment with lead-extracting plants on a community garden site, but the last time I talked with them they had realized that building their business called for total control of the process by them, and also on focusing their attention on folks like the Defense Department and such who have gobs of money. Perhaps we should start some "people's research" on this stuff. The process doesn't have to be perfect or profitable. It just has to work. We know which plants work, and some of them are readily available (sunflowers, some grasses, some brassicas). We don't know what the material is that they put on the soil to enhance the uptake of lead, but I bet some chemists could come up with some likely ones. It might just involve altering the pH. Any takers?
Jack N. Hale Executive Director Knox Parks Foundation 75 Laurel Street Hartford, CT 06106 860/951-7694 f860/951-7244 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Honigman, Adam Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 11:39 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: [cg] Commercial Phytoremediation An excerpt from the attached press release: Friends, I get these Edenspace Phytoremediation press releases from time to time. I believe that at one point they did a heavy metal removal project with Jack Hale in Hartford as a demonstration project(Jack can tell you more.) While I don't believe that lightning will strike twice and that they might work with community gardens again ( they're a business after all) the attached may be of interest to folks who are concerned about heavy metal contamination of garden sites: NEWS edenspace RELEASE For More Information Contact: Dr. Michael J. Blaylock, PI, Edenspace: (703) 961-8700 Dr. David Salt, Purdue University (765) 496-2112 DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FUNDS PLANT BIOSENSOR DEVELOPMENT "Smart Plants" May Address Health Risks of Heavy Metals (Indianapolis, IN, 12 November 2002) -- At the Annual Meeting of the Agronomy Society of America, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Edenspace Systems Corporation today announced its receipt of a $500,000 grant from the U. S. Department of Energy to fund two years of laboratory development and field demonstration of plants that can detect metals in the environment. The new grant continues work begun in 2001 to fuse a metal detector gene with a fluorescent signaling gene for insertion in a plant genome. Linking a gene sensitive to heavy metals such as cadmium, nickel and zinc, to another gene which when activated causes a bright green fluorescence under UV light, may enable a wide variety of plants to signal the presence of harmful levels of contaminants in the environment. The laboratory of Dr. David Salt, an associate professor at Purdue University, recently identified a plant gene with steady-state expression levels proportional to levels of cadmium in water. This gene, BjMTP, has been fused with the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene and inserted into a model plant named Arabidopsis thaliana. After its signaling capability has been tested in the greenhouse, the fused construct will be inserted in other plants that will be used to monitor metal concentrations in landfill leachate. Contamination of water and soil by heavy metals and radionuclides poses significant health risks to humans, livestock, and wildlife. Early, continuous detection of such contamination would facilitate remedial measures and other steps to reduce exposure. Because of their ability to cover large areas at low cost, plants are ideal detectors of such contamination. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, Edenspace Systems Corporation is a leader in the use of live plants to improve human health. Its proprietary techniques employ plants to concentrate and remove lead, arsenic, radionuclides, chlorides (salts), hydrocarbons, and other minerals from water and soil. With expertise in plant science, soil science, genetics and agronomy, Edenspace is developing new markets for the restoration and enrichment of our surroundings. ### Note to Editors: To learn more about Edenspace Systems Corporation, as well as to review other recent news releases, please visit our web site at www.edenspace.com -----Original Message----- From: Kerrianne Zdimal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 6:36 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: News Release - Edenspace Systems Corporation Please see attached for a News Release from Edenspace Systems Corporation. Best Regards, Kerri Zdimal ===== Research Assistant Edenspace Systems Corporation [EMAIL PROTECTED] 703.961.8700 - Office 703.961.8939 - Fax __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site http://webhosting.yahoo.com ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
