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N. 13, Feb - Mar 2004
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 | IP & RTD in practice
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| Patent of the month
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Plants that save lives
Human inventiveness is generally double-sided. On occasions it manifests itself in the creation of articles which inflict great suffering on persons and destroy our surroundings. At other times, happily the most numerous, this inventive capacity is used to develop systems, products or processes which repair or, at least, reduce, the personal and material damage which man himself has caused. After the disasters produced by violent conflicts, the disasters of the post-war period continue for many long years. In addition to the famine, illness and general lack of resources which those who have suffered a war must face, comes the impossibility of traveling freely due to the thousands of anti-personnel mines which bury any false step. More than 26,000 persons die or are mutilated every year due to this type of object.
This is the problem which a group of Danish scientists from the company Aresa Biodetection has attempted to resolve, obtaining a genetically modified Arabidopsis thaliana plant capable of detecting anti-personnel mines. This plant is able to change its green colouring for an intense red colour when its roots come into contact with the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas given off by the explosives.
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Source: Web page of the company
Aresa Biodetection, the patent holder.
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Diagrams included in the patent application
"Reporter System for Plants" (WO03100068)
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It has been calculated that more than 100 million unexploded anti-personnel mines currently exist over more than 75 countries, some of which are buried in inhabited areas or agricultural land. The first patented crops will be grown, on a test basis, in Bosnia, Sri Lanka and certain areas of Africa, in order to then progressively extend their use to other affected zones. This is a truly revolutionary act which will fill fields until now only sown with destruction, with life.
Links:
news.bbc.co.uk
www.nature.com
The company: www.aresa.dk
The patent: v3.espacenet.com
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