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1st circular
MARCO SYMPOSIUM 2009
Challenges for Agro-Environmental Research
in Monsoon Asia
Workshop 1
Development of Phyto-technology
for Decreasing Heavy Metal in Food
October 6, Tue, 9:00-17:00
October 7, Wed, 9:00-12:00
Along with industrial expansion, arable lands have been gradually degraded or contaminated with hazardous pollutants such as cadmium (Cd) and arsenate (As) in most of the Asian countries. In the two decades, this trend became obvious, and significantly aggravated the quality of soil and crop because of the increased concentration of pollutants in them. This will, in turn, bring about a great risk against human health and deteriorate environmental quality in this region.
Codex has proposed a new standard of Cd in agricultural products such as rice grain, wheat, vegetable, meat and so forth, and some Asian countries followed suit to change the critical concentrations of Cd in soils and crops. For many Asian countries, rice is an important staple crop, therefore, it is a matter of urgency to decrease Cd concentration in paddy soil, hence Cd content in rice grains as low as the Codex standard.
Recently, it is reported that one fourth of wells in Bangladesh are polluted by arsenic and that more than 30 million people can't be helped drinking the As-polluted water. Since then, intensive surveys have been conducted in various Asian countries where people are fully dependent on underground water for drinking. Consequently, the arsenic pollution is the problem in not only Bangladesh, but also many other Asian countries such as China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, India, and Pakistan. It is also reported that the mechanism of well-water pollution by arsenic is closely associated with agriculture practices, in particular, irrigation.
This international workshop is to aim at identifying and developing reliable, economic feasible and effective phyto-technology for decreasing Cd in food. In addition, the current status of As-pollution of water and soil in many Asian countries is to discuss in relation to agricultural practices, and to propose practical and effective countermeasures to reduce As-concentration in water and soil.
Conveners Dr. Tomohito Arao and Dr. Tomoyuki Makino
Oral Session (Invited speakers only)
October 6, Tues 9:00-17:00
- From green to clean: a promising and sustainable approach to remove toxic metals from contaminated soils
Jean-Paul Schwitzguebel
(Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Switzerland) - Phytoextraction and management options to reduce cadmium and arsenic in food crops
Fang-Jie Zhao
(Rothamsted Research Center, United Kingdom) - Remediation of Cd-polluted paddy soil by rice plants
Masaharu Murakami
(NIAES, Japan) - Subject undecided
Longhua Wu
(Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China) - Bio-engineering of arsenic- and cadmium-tolerant plants for phytoremediation
Youngsook Lee
(Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea) - Phytoextraction, cadmium and arsenic uptake of different rice varieties growing in contaminated sites of Taiwan
Zueng-Sang Chen
(College of Bioresources and Agriculture, Taiwan) - Challenges to use of genetic selection for reducing Cd concentration in crops
C. A. Grant
(Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada) - Genetic and physiological approach to elucidation of Cd absorption mechanism by rice plants.
Satoru Ishikawa
(NIAES, Japan) - Role of root functions on Cd uptake by plants including hyperaccumulators.
Alexander Lux
(Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovak Republic) - Reduction of Cd uptake eggplant (Solanum melongena) by grafting onto Solanum torvum rootstock and compartison of Cd localization in root tissue
Tomohito Arao
(NIAES, Japan) - Impact of use of As contaminated groundwater on soil As content and paddy rice production in Bangladesh
John M. Duxbury
(Cornell University, United States of America) - As absorption mechanism by plants
Paul Williams
(Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Beijing, China) - Remediation of As-polluted soil by plants
Nobuyuki Kitazima
(Fujita Co., Japan)
- Current status of As pollution in Asia
1) Subject undecided
Md. Shahjahan Kabir (Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Bangladesh)2)Arsenic in soil, water and plant at contaminated sites and in agricultural soil of Thailand
Orathai Sukreeyapongse (Office of Science for Land Development, Thailand)3) Subject undecided
Gilda C. Rivero (University of the Philippines, Philippines)4) Subject undecided
Sang-Hwan, Lee (Mine Reclamation Corporation Coal Center, Korea)5) Subject undecided
Undecided (Japan)
General Discussion
After-Symposium-Program
October 8 , Thu- Excursion
- Industrial Heritage of IKUNO SILVER MINE (IKUNO GINZAN)
- Phytoextraction using rice cultivars (Field trial)
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