IS AN APPLE A DAY KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY: EFFECTIVE REMOVAL OF MORPHOLINE

The saying "Eat an apple a day and you`ll keep the doctor away from earning his/her bread". But besides the fact that it rhymes, which apple do you like to eat, does it a bright red wax coated or ungloss fresh one? Morpholine (1-oxa-4-azacyclohexane) is a common solvent and emulsifier to give an “attractive look” to fruits and vegetables to help them last longer and remain shiny and fresh even during prolonged transit along with some others application in rubber industry, corrosion control, synthesis of drugs, crop protection, optical brighterners, lyocell process, thermal and nuclear plants. Morpholine alone does pose a health risk when it combines with atmospheric and dietary nitrates to form the potent carcinogen N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR). Excessive intake of NMOR can cause multiple primary neoplasms in the respiratory, upper digestive tracts and liver (Hepatocellular carcinoma). Our studies at Hyderabad, India found average concentration of morpholine is 0.171 mg/kg in tomato, 1.831 mg/kg in carrots and 0.342 mg/kg in capsicum. Though the levels are below the acceptable range of 0.48 mg/kg body weight/day, it does not rule out the risk of formation of NMOR if consumed directly and continuously. Considering the fact that formation of NMOR may lead to cancer over a period of time it is certainly not a situation to be ignored and raising the need for its effective removal via the route of bioremediation. In the consecutive study, different isolates from natural sources showed complete degradation of 0.10 to 0.25% morpholine in 20 days. The workhorses of this effective removal are microbes and today they provide many solutions to manmade problems.