After the E-Coli /Spinach disaster of 2006 which caused several deaths and many severe illnesses in over half the states, little has been heard. However, the repercussions are still reverberating throughout the farming community. In a typical display of overkill farmers have been subjected to hoards of auditors. Among their duties these auditors roam the fields looking for animal feces. Crop circles are then drawn around these “piles” and no crops within 25 ft. are supposed to be harvested. I am no farmer but I can imagine trying to dodge a field full of circles and trying to make a living out of what is left. At great cost fences are being erected to keep the free roaming animals out of the crops. Animals known to carry the E-Coli bacterium include cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and deer. Ponds are being filled in and huge buffer zones are being established around irrigation water sources and livestock waste depositories. However, the invasion doesn’t stop with land animals. We need also to be concerned with snails, frogs and tadpoles, slugs, rats and field mice, and, of course, air born attacks from flies butterflies, and birds, etc.
Obviously we cannot protect ourselves from anything which might carry a disease. To suggest we can sterilize everything roaming millions of acres along with the ground they cover is ridiculous. However, science may soon provide a way to do one better. It seems E-Coli and other bacteria have a sweet tooth. Tests have indicated these bugs have an affinity for particular types of sugars. When nanoparticles of iron are coated with a pathogens’ particular favorite, they readily bond to the coating. Passing these solutions by a magnet can draw away an astounding 88% of the pathogens in as little as 45 minutes of exposure.
Because nanoparticles are extremely cheap to produce they could assist in decontaminating not just food, but blood reserves, water sources, etc. Virtually anything the little bugs live in we can trick them out of. Isn’t science grand?
No comments:
Post a Comment