Biotech fights pollution with one tree at a time

2005

On the site of a former hat factory in Danbury, Connecticut, a stand of genetically altered cottonwood trees sucks mercury from the contaminated soil. Across the continent in California, researchers use transgenic Indian mustard plants to soak up dangerously high selenium deposits caused by irrigation of the nation's bread basket.
Western Connecticut State University graduate students mulch genetically altered trees that will remove mercury from the soil.