The microbe originally found in the oilfield of Gujarat, is capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) like napthalene and phenanthrene. It uses these hazardous chemicals as its source of carbon and energy, according to IMTECH's latest annual report.

In a four year project, the IMTECH team, led by Rakesh Jain, has identified and characterised the new microbial strain called ``Moraxella SP''.

PAHs like napthalene and phenanthrene are known to cause cancer and are enlisted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as priority pollutants.

ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS:At the International Business Conference valedictory function in Chennai on Wednesday, Dr M S Swaminathan said good business could survive only with good ecology. On patenting of human genomes, he said with enormous power in the handsof people, ethical questions had to take paramount importance. He said that the Terminator seed was an elegant scientific principle but had its own ethical implications.

``Science has now put enormous power in people's hands. They can now play God. But playing God should be within ethical grounds,'' he said of the new Terminator technology.