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Index of Subjects Heather: I didn't know what it was either, but it had to be an anti-knock agent added to gasoline to increase the octane rating, and replace the infamous tetraethyl lead used for that purpose. Check Wikipedia under 'anti-knock agent', which reveals that MMT is just that, and is short for methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl. The site indicates that it is a powerful neurotoxin and respiratory toxin, and is highly lipid soluble, meaning that it can accumulate in the body's fat reserves and easily enter cell membranes, and possibly bio-concentrate going up the food chain. I haven't tracked it further so don't know if the levels of it (at the roadside etc) are high enough to be a real current concern to humans or other animals. Steve (Halifax) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quoting Heather Drope <heather.drope@ns.sympatico.ca>: > I was mentioning to a friend of mine the thread going thru Naturens about the > loss of birds and insects. > He suggested that when they took the lead out of gasoline they added MMT? > and that could be contributing to the loss of the flying creatures.He is > sending me the meaning of MMT but I am sure someone else on this site > knows what that is. Heather > Heather Drope > Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society > www.nswildflora.ca > 902-440-5032 > > "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to > the rest of the world." > John Muir > -- Stephen R. Shaw Ph.D Dept of Psychology & Neuroscience Dalhousie University 1459 Oxford Street Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2 e-mail: srshaw@dal.ca fax: 1-902-494-6585 phone: 1-902-494-2886
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