Soiled no more

NATURAL organisms are once again coming to the aid of humans in rectifying past errors. Soil pollution, caused by oil products mainly in the oil-producingregions, can now be overcome by meansof a biological preparation - putidoyl- consisting of a mixture of tinymicrobes and minerals. The preparation which was recently developed at the West Siberian Scientific Research Geological Prospecting Institute, iscapable of reducing the soil pollutionand also accelerate the full recultivationof lands polluted by oil.

Putidoyl works by splitting the hydrocarbons found in oils and is environment-friendly, reducing pollution by about 99 per cent. The oil-eating microbes are not a product of genetic engineering; instead, they are found in the natural environment. More than500 ha of polluted areas in the oil-producing regions of Western Siberia have been recultivated by using putidoyl. Treatment for six week, made the pollution level come down by 1,000 times.