Ethanol and Gasoline

Institute for Local Self-Reliance - Media Coverage - Ethanol and Gasoline:
by David Morris -- April 22, 1997

Back in the early 1920s car companies were designing more powerful, higher compression cars. They needed an additive to boost octane and eliminate engine knocking. With an octane rating of 110 ethanol was a perfect choice. But ethanol displaces about 10 percent of the gasoline. The oil companies were determined not to give that business to America's farmers.
Instead, the industry chose to mix a small amount of lead into the gas. By 1940 leaded gasoline was the norm. Thirty years later the evidence of the resulting damage to human health from lead in the air and soil had become so compelling the federal government banned leaded gasoline.
Did the oil companies then choose ethanol? Nope. They reformulated gasoline, a chemical stew of over 200 noxious ingredients. To achieve higher octane they increased the proportion of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals like benzene, toluene and xylene to 30, 40 even 60 percent of the gasoline.