Gas from Tobacco

Instead of using Food products and Trees lets use someting smarter for
making fuel.

Hey the big tobacco might just find a way to survive all the suits and the agreement to discourage smoking.

By Paul Schuler
Capital News Service
Friday, March 2, 2001


ANNAPOLIS - Tobacco may actually be able to help reduce lung cancer and air pollution -- if only cars would start smoking it.

The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute presented to the Southern Maryland Delegation Friday a way to produce the clean-burning fuel, ethanol, more efficiently by using genetically engineered tobacco.

The research could create an unlikely alliance of tobacco farmers looking for alternative markets for their crop and environmental and health advocates wanting to reduce air pollution. However, the researchers still have a long way to go to convince the two sides to back their efforts, said University of Maryland associate professor Jonathan Arias.

The genetically altered tobacco could be an alternative crop for the 452 farmers who have agreed not to produce the crop as part of the state tobacco buy-out program, according to Arias.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening created the buy-out program in 1999 to rid the state of tobacco growing as part of his anti-smoking campaign.

Under the buyout contract, farmers receive $1 for each pound of tobacco they produced in previous years in exchange for not growing it. However, the contract stipulates only that farmers not produce tobacco for human consumption. They could produce the genetically altered tobacco and still receive the money.