Pardon Me, But I've Found a Way to Save the World From Flatulent Cows

A team of Japanese boffins may have accidentally struck gold in the fight against global warming: they believe they have devised a way to neutralise the perilous belches of 1.5 billion cows.

Junichi Takahashi’s discovery could, he says, dramatically reduce the environmental damage caused by the world’s cattle herds, whose collective belching is thought to account for 5 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the team from Obihiro University of Agriculture, a few simple food additives, costing about 50p each day per cow, could remove virtually all methane from a herd’s daily output of greenhouse gas-enriched belches.

The Takahashi formula, discovered by chance during an investigation of mass cattle poisoning, involves a blend of nitrates and the amino acid cysteine. The combination acts as a powerful suppressant of methane production inside the cow’s stomach, Professor Takahashi says, but has no effect on milk quality.

Well, there goes my dream of being a cow fart tycoon. Damn you nitrates and cysteine!

via Times Online