Hello, this is Monica Simeonova and welcome to the Eatglobe Newsroom in Varna.
Last year, the scientists from the Netherlands successfully grew ten crops
planted in earth mimicing the composition of Martian soil.
The selected plants were tomatoes, rye, radishes, peas, leek, spinach, garden rocket, cress, quinoa and chives.
However, the team was then faced with the question whether the plants are safe to eat
despite the high amount of heavy metals present in the Red Planet's soil.
To determine this, the scientist had to measure the amount
of heavy metals present in the produce after harvesting.
So far, tomatoes, radishes, peas and rye have been tested.
Last week, project leader Wieger Wamelink announced that
all the examined crops are safe for human consumption
as their heavy metals content is within the permissible limits.
In fact, the traces of some heavy metals were even lower than in the controls grown in Earth soil.
Nevertheless, the scientists will not be able to test the remaining six cops
unless they secure more funding for the project.
Thus, they have set up a crowdfunding campaign
in the hopes of raising more funds needed to continue their research.
The scientists state that even if all studied crops prove to be safe for consumption
it remains unknown how the crops would behave and absorb heavy metals
and other chemicals in the lower-gravity soil on Mars.
They conclude that only "on-site" research can answer this question.
This was all for today but if you are curious to find out more
please visit eatglobe.com thank you for watching.
