From Ian Gordon
I was interested to read Ricard Solé's proposal to use synthetic bacteria to perform various environmental tasks for us (1 October, p 36). They could be used to deal with our mountains of waste plastic – a desirable aim.
I find myself, however, thinking back to a 1970 episode of the UK television series Doomwatch, and the 1971 book Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis. Both explore the unexpected consequences of such a synthetic bacterium mutating to consume plastics other than those against which it was targeted.
The film The Andromeda Strain (reviewed 1 July 1971, p 43) borrowed the trope of a plane falling out of the sky as the plastic on board dissolved. I feel these must be mandatory reading and viewing for anyone proposing to engineer and release such a microorganism.
Camberley, Surrey, UK
