Plants Proving Their Worth in Toxic Metal Cleanup

Phytoremediation, a strategy of using plants to remediate site contaminated with toxic materials, is growing in interest. This article describes phytoremediation methods and current research in the field. Most of the active interest is in removing metals mainly because much less is known about how plants handle organic contaminants such as oils and cleaning fluids. Sites being investigated include abandoned mines with zinc and lead contamination; military sites with lead and cadmium; municipal waste dumps with copper, mercury, and lead; sewage sludge dump sites. Tropical plans seem to predominate in the field but other plants are also showing promise.