Xref: utzoo sci.bio:2313 sci.bio.technology:1 sci.environment:2682
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!rochester!yamauchi
From: yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.bio.technology,sci.environment
Subject: Oil-Eating Bacteria
Message-ID: <1989Sep17.193703.6598@cs.rochester.edu>
Date: 17 Sep 89 19:37:03 GMT
Reply-To: yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu.UUCP (Brian Yamauchi)
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept, Rochester, NY
Lines: 18

With all of the publicity surrounding the Exxon Valdez spill, I was
wondering what ever happened to the oil-eating bacteria that genetic
engineers were working on a few years ago.  I seem to remember it was
designed specifically for cleaning up oil spills.

Is it operational yet?  If so, why didn't they use it on the Valdez
spill?  If not, when do they expect it to become operational?

Can it survive in the environment of an underground oil deposit?  If
so, what safeguards exist to prevent it from getting into, say, the
Alaskan or Saudi oilfields?  It seems like it could make an
exceedingly nasty terrorist / economic warfare weapon.

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Brian Yamauchi				University of Rochester
yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu		Computer Science Department
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