Fungus eats CD's

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[RadarMatrix2003] Fungus 'eats' CDs

Fungus 'eats' CDs

Could your CD collection be at risk?

Scientists in Spain have identified a new form of fungus that eats compact

discs.

A geologist at the Museum of Natural History in Madrid discovered the fungus,

which belongs to the common Geotrichum family, on CDs brought back from the

central American state of Belize.

The fungus had attacked the outer edge of the disc, consuming plastic and

even aluminium. It rendered the CD unplayable.

Experts say it is unusual but not unknown for a fungus to attack manmade

substances like plastics.

-Guinea, head of Geology at the museum, said he believed it was

the first documented case of a fungus attacking CDs.

Similar reports were coming in from around the world, he said.

" This year we received many e-mails from Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala

describing similar cases in tropical countries, " Dr -Guinea told the BBC.

Fungus 'widespread'

Marc Valls, a biologist at Spain's National Centre for Biotechnology, warned

people not to be alarmed. He said the fungus would only attack CDs under

certain conditions.

" Even though this fungus is widespread it could only develop on a CD in high

humidity and high temperature, which is not the case most of the time, " Mr

Valls told the BBC.

And he said there was a positive side to the story - the ability of

micro-organisms to degrade manmade products could help in waste disposal.

" Nature is very clever and, for all the materials that we design, sooner or

later they will be degraded by some organism. "

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(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1402533.stm)