This article first appeared on How We Get to Next

An excerpt from Arsenic-eating Plants Could Clean Up the World’s Rice Fields

“Arsenic is a huge problem in India, all of Bangladesh, and the West Bengal state of India, and many, many South Asian countries,” said Om Parkash, a plant, insect and soil scientist who is working on a plan to remove arsenic from the soil of rice fields altogether. He’s bioengineering a reedy, weedy-looking plant called Crambe to be an arsenic-eating machine by harnessing the same pathways the plant uses to siphon up other particulates—a process called phytoremediation.

Arsenic hides in soils around the world. Former cotton fields lining the Mississippi River contend with residual heavy metals from defoliant sprays. Soil in cities’ community gardens surrounded by skyscrapers bear the marks of decades of industry. But the biggest problem lies in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries, where water used to irrigate rice crops surges through naturally arsenic-rich bedrock.