Many of you probably know by now that any source of fat can be converted into bio-diesel fuel. You can run a diesel engine on pure vegetable oil. It ends up being more expensive than regular diesel, of course, but it's a way a variety of companies are trying to make use of their waste. Tyson, for instance, is trying to run their trucks on chicken fat. Several college campuses are using the vegetable oil used in their cafeterias as a fuel source.
But who would have thought to use liposuctioned fat as biofuel? Apparently, Dr. Craig Alan Bittner did. This plastic surgeon is said to have used this liposuctioned fat to fuel his own vehicle, as well as his girlfriend's. He claims his patients consented to his use of their medical waste, in an effort to be more green.
Whether this story is actually true or not, it raises some interesting ethical concerns. While this practice is illegal, that is not necessarily the issue here. Is it ethical to use human medical waste for bio-diesel, as we use animal and vegetable waste for?
Well, it does have a potential for putting people at risk. Turning the fat into an aersol (by burning it) may kill any diseases present in the cells, but it also may make people more susceptible to catching them. The spores of certain bacteria, after all, can withstand a great deal of heat and other potentially deadly conditions. This could put a large population of people at risk of exposure. This, though, is certainly no guarantee, especially since the waste is supposedly purified before use.
There's also the concern of consent. If the patient doesn't agree to allow their waste to be used, should it be used? It is, after all, something they don't want anymore, and one man's trash is another man's treasure. But if the patient gives consent for their waste to be used in this way, is it any concern at all?
This is certainly an interesting dilemma; many people want to be greener in their habits (though you'd think that getting plastic surgery would be the opposite of 'green'), and yet this waste is going to waste just like that.
Should medical waste, such as the fat cells removed during lipsuction, be permitted for use as biodiesel?
No, never human fat should not be used at all, Bio diesel, in general, while a good idea is counter productive. Bio diesel has a bad habit of clogging up engines. At first you do not notice any problems maybe just a little amount of power loss. If you use it over a long period of time you will notice that your engine will start to get warmer and you will start to leak oil more then normal. Also your life of your engine is cut in half. While going green is a noble cause it is also potently a problem. While it is true that a diesel will burn a lot of things that does not mean that it is good for the engine. On the same note, the human body can eat a lot of things that does mean that is a good for the body in the long run.
Using human fat to make Bio diesel I think that it is wrong and should not be done. For many reasons, first you are burning human body parts. Second we would be condoning the “eat what ever you want we can just suck it out later” mode of personal living. Third we would be introducing health risk to the population as you stated in your blog. On a side note, Have you ever smelled Bio diesel it is by far the worst smell in the world can you imagine if the human fat smelled like brunt flesh.
"Something given has no value"~Robert Heinlein
"Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is." Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richards Almanack, 1749
What do you think they do with the medical waste now? You know, all those tumors that are pulled out of people with cancer, the legs that are amputated, the fat pulled out via liposuction, blood, etc. A good portion of it is already incinerated. People may think it's gross, but it's already being wasted in one way or another.
People are going to get liposuction one way or the other, and I don't think it's condoning it to put the waste to good use. If people kept all their toenail clippings, and someone came up with a good use for them, it wouldn't necessarily encourage people to grow their toenails so they can save those clippings in the first place.
No, I haven't smelled it, but I can't imagine it's the worst smell in the world. I've burnt oil, and hair, and those aren't the worst smells I've sampled before. I also imagine human fat wouldn't smell much worse than animal fat, and it would have to be purified before being put to use in a diesel engine. The only issue with using human or animal fats instead of vegetable oils is that vegetable oils have a much lower 'freezing' temperature, so they are less likely to gunk up the engine.
~C
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Bio diesel has a bad habit of clogging up engines.
That's because it eats away petroleum residue. Petroleum-based fuels and oil have a tendency to leave sludge behind. Once that sludge is cleared (or better, if it's not there to begin with) and the fuel filters are changed, an engine runs just fine on biodiesel.
you will start to leak oil more then normal.
If that's the case, then you're using natural rubber gaskets. Replace them with synthetic and you're fine.
Also your life of your engine is cut in half....While it is true that a diesel will burn a lot of things that does not mean that it is good for the engine.
Um...the diesel engine was actually designed to run on non-petroleum based fuels, including coal dust and peanut oil.
Random tidbit -- Companies/governments that use biodiesel in their fleets include:
L.L. Bean
Harvard
Safeway
Arlington County, Virginia
Maui Suba Tours
University of Vermont
Florida Power and Light
Baltimore Gas and Electric
more
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale Gulledge
I suppose the best thing tod is test it, to see exactly how much of a risk is caused and if its productive. As for consent, I do think that it should be required, and if they don't give it, the fat should not be used. Admittedly, that's a little ridiculous, since the patient isn't going to use it anyways, and permission is not needed to simply incinerate body parts, but the patient should know what it is going to be used for. Honestly, the whole thing sounds a little unbelievable to me as Im not sure it would really work all that well.
Like what you've read? Well, then here's more:
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tricia0711
I personally have no problem with it. I mean, I think it would be ethically different if we were talking human corpses or blood or something with more significance to us on a spiritual level. I know I'd be creeped out if we were burning severed arms or something.
Why not burn fat? It's just extra stuff. Aren't we all about the recycle thing these days? If there's some sort of smell, then there's obviously got to be ways to get rid of that smell. You mentioned some purifying process....so really it's not even the original product, it's just components that make it up...like taking the carbon out of a plant or something.
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I need some more input from y'all here in this forum topic: A ProgressiveU Radio Show/Podcast
I think this is an idea that can improve the ProgressiveU community and help with the ever present problem of funding.