Re: plants for decomtamination

**y*@sfo.com**

At 6:30 PM -0700 9/22/05, Minifarms@aol.com wrote:
>Sudan grass will remove certain things....

The book _Nature's operating instructions_ has a chapter by Rufus L. Chaney
on phytoremediation. He works for the USDA Agrcultural Research Service in
Beltsville, MD, and is described as "the preeminent specialist in the
phytoextraction of cadmium, nickel, cobalt, zinc, and other metals from
soils, as well as the developer of 'tailor-made' composts and biosolids
used to remediate metal contamination and protect food safety and soil
fertility....[He] has written 367 papers and 180 published extracts on
these topics."

In the chapter, in addition to the metals above, he says "we have
identified accumulators for copper, arsenic, selenium...although not, to
date, for lead, chromium, and most other elements."

Other relevant chapters cover mycoremediation (by Paul Stamets);
bioremediation using bacteria (by Randall von Wedel of CytoCulture Intl.);
watershed restoration using plants as living filters (by Doug Kepler of
Damariscotta); and ecological design for waste treatment (by John Todd).

This book is intended for a general readership, and the chapters are short
(7-8 pages). It's in the Bioneers Series, edited by Kenny Ausubel and JP
Harpignies, 2004, SF: Sierra Club Books, ISBN 1-57805-099-5.

Tanya Kucak
Palo Alto, CA

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