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the crop through the combine, the article quoted an expert as saying, “a only four hundred thirty-nine cases over the
pre-harvest herbicide application is very important for straight-cutting,” entire island, with six deaths. Notably, Taiwan’s
with glyphosate explicitly mentioned as a popular choice. I have been government has banned genetically modified
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unable to determine whether glyphosate is used on the rapeseed growing crops, and the country uses very little glypho-
along the Yangtze River in China. sate on its non-GMO crops. Although Taiwan’s
Many different methodologies are being developed to process the cities have plenty of air pollution, it’s not from
raw materials that ultimately produce biodiesel fuel. It is unclear whether biofuels—Taiwan does not use any biodiesel in
glyphosate would survive the processing intact or get broken down. How- its vehicle fuels. From 2008 to 2014, the coun-
ever, methodologies that rely on enzymatic action of lipases must operate try explored the possibility of converting used
at a relatively low temperature to avoid destruction of the enzyme, and cooking oil to biodiesel, but in May of 2014, the
this probably also avoids destruction of glyphosate. It is also unclear state-run oil refining company decided to phase
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whether engine combustion would break down glyphosate before it has a out biodiesel fuel production. Even when using
chance to evaporate into the exhaust gas. Certainly, many other organic a blend that was only 2 percent biodiesel, the
molecules are present in exhaust fumes, but several studies on the exhaust island’s high humidity was causing the growth
fumes from biodiesel fuel, in particular, have consistently shown that it of biofuel-producing microbes that clogged
induces a greater inflammatory response than regular diesel. The reasons vehicles’ fuel tanks.
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for this remain uncertain.
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Aviation biofuel is another potential source of airborne glyphosate. CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS:
This technology has advanced rapidly since around 2010. United Airlines A CASE STUDY
was the first to introduce aviation biofuel, but now there are at least four An article published online way back in
airlines flying into and out of New York City that use aviation biofuel. 2002 is interesting in several respects. It focused
Queens is perhaps the most affected borough. Nearly surrounded by on a company in Chelsea, Massachusetts, which
water, Queens is intersected by three major interstate highways (I-278, at the time controlled 75 percent of the budding
I-495 and I-678) and is also close to three major airports: La Guardia just new market in biodiesel fuel production. The
to the north, JFK to the south and Newark in New Jersey. company had developed a processing method
As of this writing, the UK had the worst Covid-19 death toll in that could convert used cooking oil, such as
Europe, and the second highest number of total deaths behind the U.S. soybean oil, into biofuel. The company also ac-
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News reports have singled out bus drivers and people living in the town cepted rapeseed oil, waste oil from landfills and
of Slough (adjacent to Heathrow Airport) as being especially affected. recycled grease. Years later, in December 2019,
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Test flights and commercial flights running on aviation biofuel blends an article in the Boston Globe described a fire
have been flying into and out of Heathrow since 2008. On the ground, that broke out in Chelsea in a containment area
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the mayor of London reported in July 2017 that about a third of the city’s of a biodiesel production plant, where a tank
nearly ten thousand buses were running on 20-percent-blends of biodiesel; containing fifteen hundred gallons of cooking
the mayor also stated that by 2018, London would no longer add pure oil exploded into flames. The tank’s overall
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diesel double-deck buses to its fleet. capacity—twenty-five thousand gallons—dem-
Glyphosate could be released at various stages of biodiesel fuel onstrates that Chelsea is still very much in the
production and use, including potentially off-gassing from the biomass biofuel production industry. Chelsea, located
on river barges, getting released from biodiesel manufacturing plants, on a small peninsula in Boston Harbor, houses
evaporating into the air at gas tanks when vehicles are tanking up or 100 percent of the aviation fuel supplying Lo-
coming from the exhaust fumes of airplanes on the runway or from cars, gan Airport, as well as 80 percent of Boston’s
buses or trucks on highways. To my knowledge, no one has yet tested for home heating oil in large tanks scattered along
glyphosate’s presence from any of these sources. Research is desperately the shoreline.
needed to test for levels of glyphosate in different biodiesel products and The Boston area is one of the Covid-19 hot
in exhaust fumes from different vehicles (highway and airplanes) run- spots in the United States. When cities in Mas-
ning on biodiesel fuel. sachusetts are ranked in terms of their rate of
The lack of any significant impact of Covid-19 on the island of Taiwan infection per population unit, Chelsea comes
is very surprising. Due to Taiwan’s dense population (nearly twenty-four up on top by a wide margin (see Figure 2). As
million pepole) and proximity to China, it was anticipated that they would of May 1, 2020, Chelsea ranked number one in
be hit early and hard. As of May 7, 2020, however, Taiwan had reported Massachusetts with three hundred sixty-three

SUMMER 2020 Wise Traditions 31