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Sharon,
Connecticut
October 8, 2001
Evans
Cooling Systems, Inc. (ECS) of Sharon, CT disclosed its technology to
detoxify ethylene glycol (EG), a common antifreeze ingredient, and to
prevent poisonings and deaths from oral ingestion of that substance.
Thousands of human EG poisoning cases occur annually in the U.S., as do
tens of thousands of pet and wildlife poisonings. Without treatment, EG
poisoning progresses through a number of steps including metabolic acidosis,
the deposition of calcium oxalate crystals, kidney failure, and death.
Most human poisonings, if treatment is started immediately, can be reversed
by procedures that are painful and expensive. Most animal poisonings end
in death.
Ingested EG is not itself toxic until it becomes metabolized by the alcohol
dehydrogenase (ADH) enzyme to glycoaldehyde. Glycoaldehyde becomes metabolized
further to three toxic metabolites - glycolic acid, glyoxylic acid, and
oxalic acid. These are the substances that cause the damage. ECS's method
combines an ADH enzyme inhibitor with the EG to prevent the first step
in the process from taking place, namely the metabolism of EG to glycoaldehyde.
Without the glycoaldehyde, the toxic metabolites are not produced and
the poisoning does not occur.
John W. Evans of Sharon, CT and J. Thomas Light of Lakeville, CT are the
inventors of the new technology. Evans and Light discovered that propylene
glycol (PG), a common commodity chemical that is considered essentially
non-toxic, acts as an ADH enzyme inhibitor and that when PG is mixed with
EG, the PG effectively prevents the toxic metabolites from being produced
were the EG to become ingested. Of particular significance is the fact
that the inventors found that only a small percentage of PG need be in
the mix to detoxify the EG. According to Evans, "Our testing was
a real eye-opener. You only need about five percent PG in the mixture
with EG to prevent the oral toxicity of EG."
In conjunction with an EPA certified testing laboratory, ECS tested the
toxicity of its EG and PG mixtures and compared the empirical results
to estimated results generated from a common industry formula. "There
was no connection whatever, as the experimental results were far better
than those predicted by the formula," Light said. "It amazed
us that we found mixtures of EG and PG that were actually less toxic than
PG itself."
Evans, who is President of ECS, said, "Sometimes there is good news
to report on developments that will help make the environment safer. This
discovery promises to end the oral toxicity of many EG-based products,
including antifreezes and aircraft deicing fluids." It is the intention
of ECS to use the technology in its own proprietary waterless coolants
and to license it to the producers of EG-based products that are generally
used with water.
US
and Foreign Patents Pending.
For
more details of this technology, read "Ethylene
Glycol Poisonings Can Be Stopped."
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