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Jnternafiond- �� , intervals Inc, MICROBES DON'T .HAVE MOUTHS. !I The,Real Story Behind BioremediationFF Oil Spill Cleanup Robert H. Meaders MD I From the soil in the back yard garden down almost to the molten interior of the earth, there F exist MICROBES which have acclimatized to the soil conditions under which they live. These microscopic organisms are capable of utilizing a wide range of organic material for their own digestive and growth needs. These beneficial microbes provide a mechanism for nature to constantly clean and replenish our soil and rivers. Microbes "eat" and dispose of dead and dying plant and animal material, and can even tune into, turn on, and digest many of the toxic chemicals spilled by man. To accomplish: these Herculean tasks, the microbes have to find, identify, attack, and digest a wide range of organic substances.to their final end-products, carbon dioxide and water. For you and me, finding and digesting food is fairly simple. We smell, look, touch' taste, and if a substance appears edible, take a bite. If the bite tastes good and seems to offer sustenance, we proceed to chew the foodstuff, all the while mixing it with enzymes j secreted by our salivary glands. These enzymes 'begin the digestive process, which continues while the food passes along the digestive tract. At every major "rest stop" along the way, the intestines add more enzymes to accomplish specific tasks of digestion until all C the required food value has been removed from the ingested food, and the waste matter expelled. t At first glance, one wonders just how in the world sari inicrobes "eat" food at all! Without a nose, they can't smell the food, without eyes_ they can't see what they are going after, without fingers they can't grab it and feel it, and without mouths they can't bite off chunks to taste! Fortunately for microbes, nature provides an very practical solution. Instead of having to "hunt and gather", then break up their food with teeth and move it along an enzyme-rich intestinal tract, microbes simply secrete'enzymes and broadcast them into the environment. These enzymes act like scouts, pouring forth from the microbe to attack whatever likely food source is present, breaking chunks of it off, and allowing the particles to float back to the microbe. The food chunks are absorbed across the microbe's cell wall, and are examined for digestibility by the internal structures of the microbe. If the substance identified is a good food source, the microbe then secretes more specific enzymes that will ' continue to break down the target food for absorption and digestion internally. -025 so mccarran blvd., suite 166 reno;. -nv, 89502 (800) 869-4322 i