FUEL ADDITIVE DEBUTS AMID EPA QUALMS.Byline: H. Josef Hebert Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A fuel additive that puts more zip into your car is showing up in gasoline pumps after two decades of controversy, though the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and still worries about its possible health effects. Thirty-seven environmental and health groups wrote letters Thursday to oil refiners asking that they not use the manganese-based additive, known as MMT MMT Million Metric Tons MMT Médecins Maîtres-Toile MMT Methadone Maintenance Treatment MMT Multiple Mirror Telescope MMT Mission Management Team (International Space Station) MMT Military Training Technology , until there are further tests to determine the effect of low-dose, chronic exposure to the public. The EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. gave the go-ahead in December for use of the additive, but only at the direction of a federal appeals court, which said the agency had no authority under the Clean Air Act to block the product's introduction. The manufacturer, Ethyl ethyl (ĕth`əl), CH3CH2, organic free radical or alkyl group derived from ethane by removing one hydrogen atom. Corp., of Richmond, Va., had been seeking approval for the additive since the mid-1970s. But the EPA has been nervous for years about MMT, which makes gasoline burn more efficiently and boosts power, because of uncertainty about the possible health effects of low-level exposure from tailpipe tail·pipe n. The pipe through which exhaust gases from an engine are discharged. Also called exhaust pipe. tailpipe Noun a pipe from which exhaust gases are discharged, esp. emissions. The additive was banned in 1977 because of its effects on emission control The selective and controlled use of electromagnetic, acoustic, or other emitters to optimize command and control capabilities while minimizing, for operations security: a. detection by enemy sensors; b. mutual interference among friendly systems; and/or c. devices. Attempts to have it approved were rejected four times since 1990, largely because of the health concerns. But in October, the federal appeals court in Washington, in a 3-0 decision, said that the EPA under the 1990 Clean Air Act did not have the authority to keep MMT off the market, simply because the agency wanted additional health studies. Ethyl Corp., which decades ago produced the lead octane-boosting additive that since has been banned because of health concerns, began selling MMT to a few refineries in December, according to a company spokesman. There is no requirement for the additive to be labeled at the gas pump. "We have and continue to have health concerns," said EPA Administrator Carol Browner in a telephone interview Thursday, adding that she had no choice but to comply with the court order. "We believe more research is necessary to understand the health effects on the American people." Ethyl all along has strongly maintained that MMT does not pose a health risk at the low levels of exposure from gasoline. |
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