Scientists use bacteria to convert plastic into paracetamol

[cbabe]

https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2025-06-23/scientists-use-bacteria-to-convert-plastic-into-paracetamol.html

Scientists use bacteria to convert plastic into paracetamol

For the first time, a scientific study has succeeded in using live microbes to produce medicine — by digesting and fermenting waste

FACUNDO MACCHI
JUN 23, 2025 - 12:23 EDT

A bacterium eats a plastic bottle and, once the waste is inside its structure, the cell ferments it as if it were beer and turns it into paracetamol. That’s a simplified summary of a scientific study — published Monday in the journal Nature — in which classical chemistry is used in a “completely new” way for the first time, according to lead author Stephen Wallace. He explains the breakthrough: “By using living microbes, we performed sophisticated chemical transformations, which could open up new, greener, and more sustainable ways to produce valuable materials, such as medicines, from waste.”

… more …