Super-cabbage the newest weapon in fight against pollution

American researchers have developed genetically-modified plants they say can remove arsenic from soil, a technique that could help the fight against pollution.

The scientists behind it hope that their results in the laboratory will be made commercially available within five years, and that would open the way for genetically modified, or GM plants, to remove arsenic contamination from millions of acres of land in countries like Bangladesh and the east of India.

To produce the GM plants, the researchers took two genes from a common bacteria and incorporated them into plants called Arabadoxis, which belong to the cabbage family.

Arsenic kills most plants, but with their new genes, these plants not only remained healthy, but actually grew faster on arsenic-rich soil.

The arsenic is stored in the plants leaves and these can then be harvested, thereby removing the chemical from the soil.

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