The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published new research suggesting that the use of ethanol and biodiesel can reduce the risk of cancer.
“An Assessment on Ethanol-Blended Gasoline/Diesel Fuels on Cancer Risk and Mortality” was published last month and was a joint effort by Doctor Steffen Mueller, the Energy Resources Center, University of Illinois at Chicago and Doctors Shujun Liu and Gail Dennison, The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota.
Their research highlights that the blending of biofuels in gasoline reduces emissions of toxic chemicals or carcinogens that cause cancer which are normally found in regular gasoline combustion, according to the Wisconsin BioFuels Association.
The findings say: “Increasing evidence supports that blending ethanol into gasoline (biofuels) reduces emissions of toxic chemicals including secondary aromatics. It can be concluded that ethanol blending in gasoline is beneficial to human health, given that toxic/carcinogenic chemicals are significantly reduced due to displacement by ethanol.”
The Wisconsin BioFuels Association says while more research on larger exposure to carcinogens is needed to confirm the results, this finding is an important step toward understanding the positive health effects of increasing the percentage of ethanol/biodiesel blended into gasoline.
