When we think of oil spills it congers up images of slick, black birds held in gloved hands and fish floating on an ocean oil-slick, not trees, but that might change.

Chrysler and Perdue University researchers are getting together to create transgenic poplar trees capable of absorbing trichloroethylene, or TCE, including other pollutants and metabolizing them into harmless products 100 times faster than non-genetically modified poplars. There are many plants and trees that can perform phytoremediation, but so far none as fast as these enhanced trees. These trees are being tested in a site in north-central Indiana, a former oil storage facility.

The first thought in my mind, and I’m sure the minds of you readers, is what about the rest of the trees in the wild? Will they breed with them and create a world of mutant trees? Well, apparently the researchers have already thought of that and the duration of the study is short term so as to diminish the chance of breeding and possibility for genetic impact. It apparently takes 5 years until the trees can breed and one of the Perdue professers continues:

Three years should be enough time for them to grow up, send down roots to suck the pollutants up and break them down,then we’ll cut them down before they have the chance to pass on their genes to the environment.

Read the press release here »

Via EcoGeek