Vaccine to slow down global warming

SYDNEY, APRIL 8. Australian scientists today announced they had developed a vaccine that could help slow down global warming by eliminating the methane released by cows and sheep passing wind. Australia's pastures are its second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after roads. Every day a cow belches an average of 280 litres of methane - a gas that litre for litre is 20 times worse in its effect on raising global temperatures than the carbon dioxide spewed out by vehicle exhausts. Scientists at the Csiro research centre in Perth said three years of work had come to fruition in a vaccine that blocks methane output by altering organisms in an animal's stomach.

The Csiro spokesman, Mr. Rob Kelly, told Australia's ABC radio that modelling showed the nation's livestock was burping into the atmosphere three million tons of methane each year. ``If we can get widespread adoption of this technology, we should be able to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions from Australia by the order of 3 per cent.''

- DPA

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Section  : International
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