Unlocking tobacco's treasure trove

摘要

The spotlights are now well and truly on alternative uses for tobacco. Careful consideration will help to weed out those ideas that look good on paper but are non-starters from a practical point of view. There is considerable potential for harvestinguseful chemicals from tobacco. Those used in phar-maceuticals are provoking most interest, not least because they create a complete role reversal for tobacco, from the health threatening bete noire to a health giving, useful plant. Genetic modification (GM) will play a key role in the greater scheme of things, through development to produce higher concentrations of naturally present chemicals or new chemicals not normally synthesised by tobacco.