NeoPlants, the GMO plant that helps improve air quality in the home

The high concentrations of CO₂ indoors pose serious health risks. Mechanical equipment is often used to reduce indoor pollution and provide adequate ventilation, but these consume large amounts of energy. In recent times there has therefore been a notable impetus to studies on the ability of plants to absorb CO₂with insights on which species are most suitable for making the air in our apartments cleaner.

NeoPlants, a French startup, which for now offers its products only in the United States, has taken a further step forward and genetically modified some species, so that they clean indoor air up to 30 times more effectively than ordinary houseplants. Production of NeoPlants is in its early stages, but the startup already has a long waiting list of customers to purchase NeoP1, a potos (Epipremnum aureum, one of the most common houseplants due to its high adaptability) genetically modified. NeoP1 costs around 162 euros and in the newsletter they receive customers on the list to buy is described as “the world’s first bioengineered plant to purify the air in the home“, created to “capture and recycle the most dangerous air pollutants in the house” and capable of maintaining “its maximum purification performance for up to three weeks without the need for water”.

Lionel Moraco-founder of NeoPlants together with Patrick Torbey, answers our questions from the workshops housed in an old shoe factory in the suburbs of Paris. “There is a queue of tens of thousands of people waiting to buy NeoP1, of which the first batch is ready after 4.5 years of hard work,” she confirms, and the startup “in terms of funding has already raised 20 million dollars”. After experimenting on a potus, “we are now carrying out our research on other types of plants, never studied before”.

The technology behind NeoPlants is outlined in a “White Paper” that the company shares, which Mora summarizes thus: “Neo P1 is the fruit of several years of synthetic biology efforts using the latest microbiome and metabolism engineering technologies, combined with custom designed hardware. The result is a plant that has drastically improved its phytoremediation efficiency of the most harmful and widespread volatile organic compounds in closed environments. Our technology can improve the health and well-being of millions of people around the world, as well as being a sustainable solution that has drastically less negative impact on the environment and the planet than air purifying machines.”

When it is objected that the effectiveness of this type of plant is measured only in controlled environments, in the laboratory, Mora vehemently replies: “The same happens for mechanical systems, yet no one takes it out on, for example, Dyson’s advertising. It’s true that experimenting in real conditions is very difficult, but we’re working on it. When we say that NeoP1 is 30 times more effective than non-GM potus, we do so based on solid scientific documentation and the best published research.”

The limited sale to the US market is for now an obligatory choice: “We are French and would like to get to the European market as soon as possible – Mora says – but in a pragmatic way we had to start from the country that allowed us to do it. The registration process for GMOs in Europe is cumbersome, old and out of date. I understand that in the past there have been companies that have greatly damaged the environment with their use of GMOs and therefore it was right to regulate the matter, but unfortunately now there are too many prejudices about this type of research. We are working with nature and rejecting this approach is short-sighted“.

Mora is also heated in responding to the objection that instead of modifying existing plants it would be enough to plant more and pollute less. “I agree that before talking about technology and genetic modification we should all change our lifestyle, this is the most important thing. However, innovation is essential to solve problems that will not go away even if political and social progress is made. If we can stop emissions now, CO₂ it would not be eliminated and reforestation projects are not enough. The prospects offered by bioengineering are enormous, their impact is greater than other measures. For this reason, while following a lifestyle based on sustainability, I am a staunch supporter of innovation”.

Mora is a former product manager at Google, who left “because I felt like I wasn’t always on to something good,” he says. “I recognize myself in the millennial cliché – he says – I am interested in the final outcome of what I do and I wanted to start a project that had a really positive impact. I agree that in the field of synthetic biology there is a lot of crazy stuff and a lot of dark projects, but the prospects for bioengineering are truly incredible. This is why our work is based on total transparency and I believe that even having to wait to get one of our plants is a very positive thing. We are used to having everything instantly, to buying what we want. Instead we are working with nature and nature needs time”.