Think of your body as a sponge. On the typical human there are said to be 1,000,000 pores per square inch of skin. The surface area of an average-sized person is reckoned to be around 14 square feet (a bit macabre, but interesting to consider). At 144 inches per square foot, and 1,000,000 pores per square inch, the average person has a whopping 2,016,000,000 tiny holes in their body. Suddenly Bubble Boy doesn’t seem so crazy.
We are literally saturated with chemicals, some of them with known toxicological properties. We’ve all become familiar with the toxic effects of eating mercury-laden fish, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Exposure to these chemicals happens in the most banal of ways: shampooing your hair, putting on lipstick, moisturizing your skin, drinking a cup of brewed coffee, handling industrial packaging, cooking with non-stick pans, driving your car, and even just sleeping.
Over 30 years ago the federal government began regulating environmental toxins with the Toxic Substances and Control Act of 1976. This act established the beginnings of a weak system for testing and regulating toxic chemical substances. The problem is that even 30 years ago chemicals were already are all around us. Over 60,000 chemicals produced previous to the 1976 act were grandfathered in with free passes to any kind of testing or regulation.
Last year in the New York Times, cancer researcher and survivor Dr. David Servan-Schrieber (a founder of Doctors Without Borders) summed up the problem: “Since 1940, we have seen in Western societies a marked and rapid increase in common types of cancer.” While the argument of environment and lifestyle is valid, there is a certain point at which the healthiest of lifestyles in the unhealthiest of environments quickly becomes a losing battle. The average adult human carries around hundreds of synthetic chemicals in their body. The majority of these synthetic chemicals are known to cause abnormal hormonal activity, and hormonal disruptions carry a higher risk of disease. The science of testing for chemicals in the body is called biomonitoring. Let’s return to our list of everyday activities and see what chemicals we can pick up:
Shampooing your hair exposes you to parabens, compounds known to cause hormonal disruptions by mimicking estrogen in the body, and 1,4-dioxane which is “known to the State of California to cause cancer.”
Moisturizing your hole-covered skin can expose you to phthalates (often listed on skincare products as “fragrance”) which have been known to cause reproductive disorders by disrupting the endocrine or hormonal system.
Drinking a cup of brewed coffee can expose you to decaBDE, a flame retardant in the plastic belonging to a group of chemicals called PBDEs. The ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) states that: “nothing definite is know about the health effects of PBDEs in people. Practically all of the available information is from studies of laboratory animals.” According to a study by the Illinois state EPA: “based on animal studies, the possible health effects of decaBDE in humans involve the liver, thyroid, reproductive/developmental effects, and neurological effects.”
The list goes on to include more flame retardant chemicals in bedding and upholstery, lead and parabens in make-up that cause infertility, and PFOA in non-stick cookware that is associated with testicular, liver and pancreatic cancers. Like decaBDE, the majority of these chemicals in regular use today have unknown effects on humans. Think back to the days when lead was common in paint, asbestos in walls and ceilings, and no official reports were available on the toxicological effects of these chemicals. Around 1,000 new chemicals are added every year to the approximately 85,000 already on the federal registry.
While there is no going back to a chemical free world, there are alternatives. Over 90 percent of chemical in use today are made from petroleum. No one in their right mind would hop into a barrel of crude to freshen up, or down a bottle of oil with lunch. There are certain things our common sense simply will not allow us to do; preservation of the species and all that. Knowledge is power, and it’s the knowing that allows us to steer clear of things dangerous to our health. Check out the nonprofit watchdog Environmental Working Group at www.ewg.org for informational databases of everyday products.
As oil supplies dwindle and prices rise, so too will the demand for biochemicals. While we can’t break away from our chemically dependent society, we can have a say in what those chemicals are, where they come from and which ones we allow into our bodies. Organic, bioderived chemicals offer a huge opportunity for the health and well-being of our bodies, our families and our planet.
Going organic never made so much sense.
Darwin’s theory is often summed up as “the survival of the fittest.” But what makes one species more fit than another is not physical strength (a common misunderstanding), it is adaptability: the skill and perseverance to adapt to a changing world.
Blue Marble Biochemicals
Biochemicals are compounds that mirror the structure of synthetic chemicals but have been produced from natural or organic sources rather than oil. Biochemicals and green chemicals have been somewhat interchangeable terms, though the latter is simply a loose umbrella term for anything that represents a reduction of hazardous substances.
With the passage of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990, the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) began exploring new ways to develop or improve chemical products and processes that were less hazardous to humans and the environment. This marked the beginnings of an entirely new chemical industry. The goal was safer, cleaner yet still effective chemicals. Here at Blue Marble we have taken it a step further. Our driving principles in the production of biochemicals include:
Now that we have an understanding of what biochemicals are, let us move on to discuss which biochemicals Blue Marble Energy is producing. BME makes various chain length organic acids which are processed into the following classes of bioderived materials: short chain esters, short chain amides, ammonia, and biogas containing CO2, H2, CH4, and H2S.
A few examples of Blue Marbles esters are:
Methyl-propionate: a short chain methyl ester with a fragrance characteristic of fresh rum, fruity and/or strawberry. This ester enjoys widespread utilization as a flavoring, but can also be reacted and polymerized to produce a biosourced form of methyl methacrylate which is used in the manufacturing of plastics. Because Blue Marble can produce all the components of MMA from biosourced materials we are able to completely displace the use of petroleum in the production of this product.
Ethyl-butyrate is a short chain ethyl-ester with a fragrance characteristically associated with pineapple and/or orange juice. This ester is the primary pineapple flavor in alcoholic drinks as well as a well used plasticizer for cellulose materials (such as cellophane).
Iso-propyl formate is an ethereal solvent with a cocoa scent profile. In high purity, and mixed with other carriers, it becomes a specialty solvent for pharmaceutical grade proteins.
Butyl-butyrate is an 8 carbon ester that has a heavy banana/pineapple scent. Blue Marble Energy is especially interested in butyl-butyrate for its freezing and boiling point properties which allows it to be used directly as a fuel, as an additive for fuels, and in extreme conditions as a lubricant component.
Methyl-valerate is a 6 carbon ester that is both a fragrance, plasticizer, and interestingly enough is used as a sedative in some Eastern European countries.
All of the short chain amides that BME produces are base components for further chemical synthesis. A small sampling of Blue Marble’s amides include: acetamide, butyramide, hexonamide, and caprionamide.
As an example, acetamide is currently showing good performance as a plasticizer for soy protein based biopolymers as an alternative to glycerol, as well as in other compounds. It is also widely used as a solvent, and as a component in lacquers and soldering flux.
Blue Marble’s green ammonia is completely bioderived from the degradation of proteins and amino acids in the fermentation process. It can be utilized as a fertilizer for agricultural production, in low concentrations as a household cleaner or disinfectant, and for power generation through combustion in compression engines.
Each of these biochemicals represents not only a decrease in toxic petrochemicals, but a decrease in the total carbon footprint of any product in which they find a home. Anyone care for an organic, carbon-neutral piña colada?