The recent Associated Press article that stated that the gasoline additive MTBE has been "making the air cleaner" ("Gas additive legacy: clean air, foul water") omitted some important facts:
1. Thousands of motorists have complained that MTBE causes headaches, chest pains and breathing difficulties.2. MTBE is known to increase emissions of formaldehyde and nitrogen oxides, both of which are harmful pollutants.
3. Federal EPA studies of the combustion byproducts of MTBE in gasoline have only recently begun.
4. The National Research Council concluded in May that oxygenates such as MTBE and ethanol are ineffective in reducing smog.
Cleaning the air? I don't think so.
For these reasons, our group has protested the use of MTBE and other oxygenates in gasoline since 1993. For more information, search www.oxybusters.org.
Barry Dorfman
Director of Special Projects
Oxybusters of New Jersey
Maple Shade, N.J.