WILMOT, S.D. -- Contrary to public perception, the majority of city dwellers, even those in smaller cities, live in what researchers define as traffic areas.
Studies indicate these citizens have nearly twice the risk for breast cancer and heart disease that causes more than 2,200 premature deaths daily and costs $450 billion annually. International research also reports gasoline's emissions are especially injurious to children causing increased rates for childhood cancers, birth defects, learning disabilities, asthma, etc.
Common sense won when lead octane enhancers were phased out. Regrettably, common sense lost when refiners replaced lead with equally hazardous benzene-based aromatic octane enhancers. The 1990 Clean Air Act acknowledged these health risks and required phasing out benzene-based aromatic octane enhancers.
Yet these aromatics remain as approximately 25 percent of gasoline content because it "costs too much" to remove them. The stable nature of aromatic octane enhancers make them difficult to fully combust, thus they account for nearly 100 percent of the primary toxic content found in traffic emissions. Simply replacing these aromatic octane enhancers with more fully combustible octane enhancers will significantly reduce overall heart disease risks and children's debilitating health problems associated with traffic areas.
Few octane enhancers can satisfy engine octane needs when aromatics are removed and new engine designs can maximize auto fleet miles per gallon if minimum octane is increased. Consequently, engine manufacturers have recently asked that E30 be certified as a test fuel because E30 has desired octane and emission benefits. Reaching E30's "blending" octane levels requires larger volumes of much lower octane isobutanol or other octane enhancers that increase costs versus E30.
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What if today standard auto owners chose to accept E30's minimal, if any, risks, making possible major reductions in occurrences of heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer and children's debilitating birth defects, cancers, etc.?
Editor's Note: Swayze is a founding board member of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association, South Dakota Corn Utilization Council (served as president of both organizations), ProGold LLC and the American Coalition of Ethanol.
