Bioremediation, which is the use of microbes that naturally consume contaminants such as oil and gasoline, is a top government priority this year. The microbes’ ability to decompose oil compounds such as naphthalene and paraffin using their enzymes without being affected by their toxic effects makes them invaluable assets in cleaning up water and soil, according to Abbas Akhavan, head of the Biotechnology Development Office’s Petroleum and Petrochemical Committee at the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology Affairs, IRNA reported. “The committee will spare no effort to finalize and implement a plan to use microbes with the highest efficiency to achieve the desired goal (which is to rid soil and water of petroleum contamination),” said Akhavan, adding that environmental preservation is one of the major goals of the committee. Following the 2010 BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, “oil eating” bacteria helped clean up the massive sheen of petroleum by eating more than 200,000 tons of oil.
