Plants used for prospecting?

Press, 22 January 1982, Page 18

Plants used for prospecting?

N7PA London A New Zealander who has been named to new ch air of environmental b, ° lo &L . Chelsea College, London, Un - versity, believes that preci ous metals can be foun J analysing plants that g above veins of ore. r He is Professor P. Peterson, aged 47, who describes the technique as biogeochemical prospecting. He hopes soon not only to refine its application to gold, which is well documentedl in principle, but also exten it to other metals. He refused to name the other metals because too much money is involved. The prospecting technique is an extension of the principle that natural processes can and do pollute the environment in ways that men would find intolerable if they were perpetrators. . Metalloids, such as selenium or arsenic, can contaminate whole regions, with adverse effects on plants, livestock, and people. By the same token, a selenium deficiency, which is

known to cause white muscle disease in ruminants, may have as yet undiscovered implications for human health. The list of substances, natural and introduced, is endless and in each case the analysis of plants may be the key to exploiting those substances that are desirable or neutralising those that are not.

Professor Peterson has held the chair of botany and has been the head of the department of botany and biochemistry at Westfield College, London University, for the last 10 years. He combines his new professorship with the directorship of the Monitoring and Assessment Research Centre, which is funded by the United Nations environment programme, among others, for the study of regional and global pollution. Other sponsors include Rio Tinto Zinc. Professor Peterson was born in Auckland and studied for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Auckland.