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   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: hannity_is_gay@fox.net   
      
   Biodiesel from human fat: illegal (not to mention unappetizing) but   
   technically feasible   
      
       By Larry Greenemeier on December 29, 2008   
      
   Biodiesel made from plant stock or animal fat (or a combination of the   
   two) will likely get a lot of attention in the coming year as a potential   
   fuel alternative to the petroleum, gasoline and kerosene polluting the   
   environment. But don't expect human cellulite to make the cut when it   
   comes to renewable fuel, despite claims by one Beverly Hills, Calif., doc   
   that he powered his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator using   
   fat that he liposuctioned from patients.   
      
   Craig Alan Bittner, 40, medical director of the now-defunct Beverly Hills   
   Liposculpture and a board-certified radiologist, didn't stick around to   
   make his case for the use of flabby fuel. Rather, he fled to South America   
   to avoid prosecution for several alleged crimes (in addition to the   
   unsubstantiated claim of using human fat to make biodiesel), including   
   allegedly allowing his assistant and his girlfriend to perform surgeries   
   without a medical license, Forbes.com reports.   
      
   The California State Medical Board last month searched Bittner's Rodeo   
   Drive office and his home, confiscating medical records, computers and   
   other documents regarding his "liposculpting" practice, the Beverly Hills   
   Courier reported earlier this month.   
      
   In a letter to patients posted on his Web site, Bittner  says he left his   
   plastic surgery practice to return to South America "to volunteer with a   
   small clinic that is very similar to where my medical career began decades   
   ago, where I can help those most in need."   
      
   Kevin Pho, a Nashua, N.H., primary care physician board-certified in   
   internal medicine, noted last week on his KevinMD.com Web site that,   
   though possible to make biofuel from human fat, it is illegal to do so.   
   It's possible that Bittner didn't realize he was breaking the law, given   
   that he posted regular updates on his fat feat on his blog,   
   lipodiesel.com, which is no longer functioning. He portrayed his   
   liposuction business as a success, claiming to have treated nearly 7,000   
   patients. There are also customer testimonials on Bittner's site, where he   
   posted photos in which he's pictured with patients holding up bags   
   purportedly containing the globs of fat suctioned from various parts of   
   their bodies.   
      
   Bittner's legal troubles (he was also sued in 2003 for "false and   
   deceptive advertising" of a test marketed as an alternative to mammography   
   for the detection of breast cancer) aside, his quest for a feasible form   
   of renewable fuel is shared by scientists worldwide. Mind you, most of   
   them are researching much more promising (and legal) biofuel ingredients   
   such as algae, jatropa (a woody shrub from Africa that produces oily   
   seeds) and beef and chicken lard.   
      
   It's been known for some time that animal fat is, technically, a good   
   source for biofuels. In a 1996 report to the National Biodiesel Board (a   
   biodiesel trade association established in 1992), University of Idaho   
   researcher Jon Van Gerpen (at the time with Iowa State University)   
   concluded that biodiesel fuels produced from vegetable oils and animal   
   fats are very similar, containing the same chemical compounds but in   
   different amounts. "There does not appear to be any basis for making a   
   distinction between the two fuels in terms of their impact on engine   
   performance and emissions," he wrote.   
      
   More recently, Tyson Foods and biofuel company Syntroleum Corporation   
   formed a joint venture called Dynamic Fuels and in October broke ground on   
   a $138 million renewable fuels plant in Geismar, La. Dynamic Fuels will   
   primarily use Tyson Foods's beef tallow, pork lard, chicken fat and   
   greases to make a renewable synthetic diesel fuel that can be sold in the   
   U.S. within the existing diesel fuel distribution system. The Dynamic   
   Fuels plant is scheduled to begin production in 2010, with a total   
   capacity of 75 million gallons per year.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)