October 2, 2008
The Department announces that DOE-funded researchers have developed an environmentally safe bacterial toxin to control zebra and quagga mussels, two non-native, invasive species that have found their way into the waterways of 25 states over the past two decades, fouling the aquatic environment as they spread. The new bio-pesticide was derived from a common soil bacterium by researchers at the New York State Museum Field Research Laboratory in Cambridge, NY. When ingested in large quantities, the bacterium is lethal to zebra and quagga mussels, but it is harmless to non-target organisms, including native freshwater mollusks.