Bioremediation with hemp
As the human population grows, so does the need to have suitable soils for natural vegetation and spaces to grow food by traditional methods, however; The industrial processes that are carried out today and the dependence on fossil fuels have generated contamination in a large amount of soil, which has become practically unusable.
In this context, the field of bioremediation becomes vital. Bioremediation means employing the use of living beings for the decontamination and rehabilitation of ecosystems. In this field, various organisms with remedial capacities have emerged, especially microorganisms, however; In the area of phytoremediation (from the Greek Phyto meaning "plant"), it can be found that it is currently led by hemp.
Hemp is a suitable crop for the remediation of contaminated soils because it is a plant capable of eliminating significant amounts of contaminants, storing them mainly in its roots. In addition to this, it is a crop that easily adapts to different types of soils and climatic conditions.
Hemp phytoremediation can be used to remove radioactive elements from soil and water. It can also be used to clean up metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives, crude oil, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and toxins that leach from landfills.
There are anecdotes of the use of hemp for soil recovery throughout history, one of the most dramatic demonstrations of the potential of industrial hemp was in Chernobyl, after the historic 1986 nuclear disaster that dumped radioactive waste in Eastern Europe. More than 100,000 square kilometers of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were inundated with radiation, rendering these lands unusable for agriculture. In the late 1990s, a company called Phytotech began experimenting with industrial hemp in some polluted regions of Ukraine, with extremely promising results.
Another of the most notable cases of hemp as a bioremediation is reported in an article published in September 2012 in the Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology Journal, a team of five researchers in China reported on their successful experiments with hemp to absorb cadmium from soil. If not treated; cadmium in soil can enter the food chain, and consumption can cause severe joint and spinal pain. It is known that too much exposure to this element even affects the kidneys and is linked to cancer.
While hemp, which has been used to absorb contaminants from the soil, cannot be turned into food or medicine after use in bioremediation, it can be very useful in the production of ethanol for use as a biofuel. Completing in this way a cycle from becoming a natural decontaminant, to providing us with clean energy. Hemp has around 25,000 uses and is undoubtedly one of the most versatile and sustainable crops out there. Research along with its global legalization will allow more countries to make use of the wide range of benefits offered by this kind crop.
If you want to educate yourself more about cannabis, we invite you to read the different articles on our blog. Likewise, we invite you to enroll in our online cannabis courses at: www.pharmacologyuniversityonline.com
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