Guayule Blog

The first medical device made from guayule natural rubber has just been cleared to market by the FDA. This is very exciting news for individuals with latex allergies and medical institutions becoming latex-safe! Soon we’ll be seeing guayule catheters, guayule dental dams, guayule everything. Here’s one article I found about the 510(k) clearance from the United Press International.

U.S. states are implementing mandates that require utility companies to use power from alternative means. For example, utilities regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission in Arizona will have to get 1.7 percent of their power from alternative means in 2008. By 2025, 15 percent of power needs to be supplied by alternative means. See the recent article on the mandates and how guayule could be a source for Arizona utility companies here.

Prize Capital has announced that it’s developing an innovation contest called the Biofuels Prize for small-scale decentralized renewable energy: “The Biofuels Prize will encourage innovators to develop the new technologies necessary to produce biofuels in methods that do not compete with food crops for land and water, do not encourage deforestation and do not exclude small holders, developing and rural economies.”

 You can register for details and updates on the contest at www.prizecapital.net.

Time Magazine takes on ethanol in this week’s cover story: The Clean Energy Scam. The article opens with a bird’s eye view over the Amazon rain forest as ranchers and farmers are doubling deforestation this year because biofuels have jacked up global crop prices. But, the Amazon is a storehouse for carbon and deforestation only accelerates global warming. Experts are calling it the ’savannization’ of the Amazon. It’s sad, but in this environment–no pun intended–the case for biofuels from an arid desert crop, guayule, is only made more compelling and urgent. Check out this story here:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975,00.html

Check out the full article on Wall Street Journal online.

Recent hospitals such as Johns Hopkins Hospital are getting rid of all latex gloves and almost all latex products. The article talks about hospitals going ‘latex-safe’ and the pros and cons associated with it. Here’s an excerpt:

“Johns Hopkins is also working with Maricopa, Ariz.-based Yulex Inc., which has the exclusive license on a patent from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make a latex substitute from guayule, a desert plant in the Southwest that doesn’t contain the allergy-triggering protein.”

Congrats to hospitals that are making the environment safe for people with latex allergies.