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| Europe | ||||
| GM cress could seek out landmines | ||||
| 2004-01-28 | ||||
| EFL The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, I could take. This, I'm not too sure...Danish scientists say they have developed a genetically modified plant that will detect unexploded landmines. There are believed to be about 100 million unexploded landmines around the world, posing a daily threat to life. Niels Bohr was Danish and he was smart; I’m enthused. Plants developed by Copenhagen firm Aresa Biodetection are said to turn from green to red when they come in contact with explosives in the soil. That’s almost like a stoplight. I like this better than the terror warning system. Aresa’s aim is to plant its GM plant - an altered thale cress - in landmined areas. Scientists say that within three to six weeks it will change colour in areas where roots come in contact with nitrogen dioxide (NO2) evaporating from explosives in the soil. Cress also makes a good salad.
I tend to agree. Landmines are traditionally located by a number of methods including the use of sniffer dogs, heavy machines or metal detectors. The mines can then be carefully removed. Aresa says the seeds could be sown by using an off-the-shelf pump or a crop-spraying plane. Let’s go with the plane option. I don’t know that I would want to walk about seed spraying the ground with the hopes I might know where mines were in the are I was walking in. I would be afraid of receiving more immediate results. Carsten Meier, of Aresa, told the BBC that they were working with the Danish army and hoped that field trials in live-mine areas could take place within two years. "We have to convince people who are actually clearing mines that this system is reliable," he said. Please demonstrate. I will be right ........back here about 100 meters behind you. Geir Bjoersvik, senior adviser on landmines for Norwegian People Aid, said the development was likely to be "a welcome addition to current methods if successfully passing further testing in areas of operation. This is a promising development in the efforts to find a safe and cost-effective solution to detect mines," he said. Gier is not very smart. But the Halo Trust, the Scottish-based international mine-clearing charity with 5,500 deminers and 120 heavy mine-clearing machines around the world, has raised some concerns about the project. Director Guy Willoughby said he was worried that the fresh growth could attract livestock into the mined areas. (Wouldn’t it be just as effective to seed the area with regular cress and then loose a herd of goats to find the mines.)
It would be a pain to follow a bee around looking for mines; my arms would tire. He said relying on the NO2 seepage would not guarantee that all the mines had been detected, as some are specially sealed. Being prone to false negative indications is not an acceptable fault in a mine detection alternative.
We don’t actually even have to talk to the villagers. Usually we can tell by watching them walk around.
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| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #10 Isn't there a human shield somewhere who should be doing this? |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-1-28 7:12:44 PM |
| #9 Wanna really scare the bajesus out of the lefties? Talk about escaped bioengineered Kudzu in the produce section of your local market. Lost an elder dawg to the stuff once. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-28 6:59:25 PM |
| #8 cross the cress with Kudzu and you've got a winner |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-1-28 6:50:27 PM |
| #7 Yes the anti GM crowd will jump on this "FrankenFoods drafted to fight oppresive Wars" |
| Posted by: Cheddarhead 2004-1-28 6:10:23 PM |
| #6 Old man why does the woman now walk in front of you? Landmines. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-28 3:41:08 PM |
| #5 I hope the anti-GM crowd and its anarchist/anti-globalization allies go tramping through the landmines to rip out the cress... thereby finding LOTS of MINES. Therefore... the GM plants have done their job and a whole load of asshats ... well, you know. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-1-28 3:30:06 PM |
| #4 There is a funnier way of finding mines and unexploded shells. After WWI in France and Belgium from time to time the growth of trees caused their roots to contact the mine and then KABOOM. It also worked for detecting gas shells. |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-1-28 3:19:01 PM |
| #3 Raj, you forgot the PETA kooks who will be afraid that the red cress might taste better. Millions of people starving in Africa and the Danes decide to improve crops in a way that inadequately addresses another issue. I saw another article documenting bizarre stuff from Denmark. It is called Danes Investigate Reported Jail Stand-Ins. Maybe they are the Pakistan of Europe. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-28 2:25:46 PM |
| #2 Aresa’s aim is to plant its GM plant - an altered thale cress - in landmined areas. I await the inevitable clash between those concerned about finding landmines and such (wasn't the late Princess Diana on a NGO commission of that type?) and the anti-GM crowd as it will expose even further the latter's hypocrisy about |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-1-28 1:51:05 PM |
| #1 Shhhh! Don't tell anyone but Bohr's mother was ,oy vey! Jewish. So, by Jewish law so was he. |
| Posted by: Barry 2004-1-28 1:49:01 PM |