…Californians (or any other state where MTBE is being used in the gasoline),notice any changes in the last 11 years?
…Heath eg. types,morbitity rates,including cancers,and birth defects.
…Enviroment eg. weather,air quality,plant and wild life.
…long term effects are?
…a foolish human…Herb
Yes Herb,
Ever since they started using it, there are more illegal aliens than ever!! I’ve even seen some in the water. There are so many now, they are pushing each other into the sea. HELP !
methyl-tert-butyl ether.
anti-knock additive put in gasoline after distilation and cracking.
at high pressures/temperatures, breaks down to give a tert-butyl radical and methoxide radical, facilitating the combustion process.
chances are there won’t be any noticeable health effects…
environmental effects would be quite noticeable, just in terms of added volatile hydrocarbons, contributing to smog/low lying greehouse gases.
probably fairly reactive with NOx, also produced in the combustion process.
may/may not screw up plant reproductive cycles?
HTH
What is M.T.B.E. and why is it doing all these terrible things to me?
…deadbeat’s revenge …
I remember hearing about that additive not too long ago. It was banned here in Canada, because of the health and environmental effects. (I would think it would be obvious that anything that effects the environment will affect us in some way too).
I would have to do some research to find out the exact health dangers 'cause I don’t remember. I would think cancer and pulmonary for sure…
What are you suffering from Herb?
I am always shocked to hear about all the different causes listed for the slew of ailments that affect north americans, (from rise in cancers to Chronic fatigue to all the lung/breathing problems) and how the media AND the medical establishment never seem to mention the huge amount of chemicals in our evironment ;whether our air , water or food.
Stay healthy everyone!!
peace
Lot more to it than I’ve read here on this thread.
The Federal EPA was gutted a few years ago. So information from that source is suspect.
Get the facts. Form your own opinion. Here’s one link to get you started.
Here’s another link.
“and that in rare instances MTBE has been found in drinking water supplies at levels well above EPA’s drinking water advisory and some state standards.”
Interesting use of the word “rare”.
Mix it with polyester resin to enhance flow and eliminate blushing. Get rid of those nasty swirl marks! Just put a cap full of MTBE in you gloss and your coats will be glass smooth.
Wash your hands with it and get rid of those nasty stains!
I was a chemistry undergrad at Pepperdine about 4 years ago and actually sampled a whole range of sites in the canyons of Malibu including the Malibu lagoon for MTBE contamination (surfrider beach–notoriously contaminated water/beach).
It turns out that the problem with MTBE is that it is one of the most water soluble components in the Gasoline mix. So when most of the organics come to the water surface and are evaporated the MTBE is still moving down stream. MTBE has the potential to move over a pretty significant distance in running water–the same reason that ground and well water became a problem in Southern California at about the same time I was taking the samples (last 10-15 years).
Most gas companies are using ethanol as an additive now to do the same things that GreatWhiteNorth was talking about.
Basic EPA
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/methylte.html
Chemfinder: Click on Health or MSDS for some more information
http://chemfinder.cambridgesoft.com/result.asp?molid=1634-04-4#Health
Hi Herb: I’m an environmental lawyer that has worked on a large number of gasoline leaks for a state agency. GreatWhiteNorth and Hempen-Homespun have it about right. Gas companies started adding MTBE to gasoline in very small quantities as an anti-knock compound in the 70’s to compensate for the removal of lead. It was never a big problem until the mid-90’s when the gas companies started adding it to gasoline in large quantities as an oxygenate to reduce air emissions. It’s very good at reducing air emissions, but its propensity to dilute in water makes it a nasty water pollutant even in very small quantities. Ethanol can also be used for the same purpose (to oxygenate gasoline to improve air emissions) but it is more expensive. Gas companies like MTBE because it is next to free as a by-product of refining operations. Lots of states are taking action to ban MTBE because when it leaks into groundwater supplies it is damn near impossible to clean up and it makes the water completely unpalatable to drink (even if there are no health effects).
Little is known about the health effects of MTBE right now. Contaminant limits in many places have been set based on the ability to taste it in drinking water. There’s lots of litigation going on over MTBE’s health effects and what the gas companies knew about its propensity to contaminate water. Get yourself checked out by someone with experience in environmental medicine if you think that you’ve been exposed.
When MTBE & other oxygenates were required to be added to gas in California (10 years ago? 15?) I remember my mpg suffered.
The official line was, “These oxygenates will decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.”
“Oh and by the way, most drivers will experience fuel economy decreases of approximately 20%.”
So, our emissions are 20% cleaner, but we use 20% more gas? Huh? Doesn’t that cancel out the gain?
I have never understood why anyone thought we gained anything. Zero sum game, right?
Except introducing another excuse for refiners to raise prices because of the cost of the additive.
Thankyou all,
I could go on and on about this but action is the better solution for me… if there is a tx and/or recourse.
…my name is ozzy…gee… no silly… it’s Herb