Syria gas attack: US sanctions 271 people
The humble caterpillar can be the answer to dealing with the growing mountains of plastic waste around the world, says new research that shows it breaks down chemical bonds in plastic used for bags and packaging at unusually high speeds.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge and Spain say the discovery could lead to a new approach to polyethylene waste that chokes oceans and landfills. Plastic is usually highly resistant to breaking down, but nature may provide the answer.
The researchers found a caterpillar commercially bred for fishing bait has the ability to biodegrade polyethylene, one of the toughest and most used plastics, frequently found clogging landfill sites in the form of shopping bags. The discovery is based on the wax worm, the larvae of the common insect Galleria mellonella, or greater wax moth, considered a scourge of beehives across Europe. In the wild, the worms live as parasites in bee colonies. Wax moths lay their eggs inside hives, where the worms hatch and grow on beeswax.
The chance discovery occurred when a member of the scientific team, Federica Bertocchini, an amateur bee-keeper, was removing the parasitic pests from honeycombs in her hives. The worms were temporarily kept in a typical plastic shopping bag that became riddled with holes.
Bertocchini, from the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria, Spain, collaborated with colleagues Paolo Bombelli and Christopher Howe at the University of Cambridge’s department of biochemistry to conduct a timed experiment.
TREASURY SECRETARY STEVE MNUCHIN SAID THIS WAS ONE OF THE LARGEST SUCH SANCTIONS ACTIONS IN THE HISTORY OF THE US
The Trump administration issued sanctions on Monday against 271 people linked to the Syrian agency responsible for producing non-conventional weapons, part of an ongoing US crackdown on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons.
The sanctions target employees of Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, which the US says partly enables the use of chemical weapons. The US has blamed Assad for an attack earlier this month that killed more than 80 civilians in rebel-held northern Idlib.
“The United States is sending a strong message with this action: That we will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons by any actor,” treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters at the White House Monday. He said it was one of the largest such sanctions actions in US history.
As a result of Monday’s action, any property or interest in property of the individuals’ sanctioned must be blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.
The UN Security Council failed again this month to respond to Syria’s use of chemical weapons,” Trump said Monday at a White House meeting of UN ambassadors from countries on the Security Council. The US has been expanding its sanctions programme against Syria. AP