A new study shows that developing “green” fuel alternatives may put those with asthma and other respiratory diseases at a higher risk.

The research, which was developed by Civil and Environmental Engineering Prof. Mark Jacobson, indicates that more of the corrosive gas ozone would be produced by the combustion of ethanol than by the combustion of gasoline.

“Ethanol is being promoted as a clean and renewable fuel that will reduce global warming and air pollution,” Jacobson said in a recent Los Angeles Times article. “But our results show that a high blend of ethanol poses an equal or greater risk to public health than gasoline, which already causes significant health damage.”

The study specifically deals with E85, an alternative to gasoline which is composed of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

According to Jacobson’s report, “under the base-case emission scenario derived, which accounted for projected improvements in gasoline and E85 vehicle emission controls, it was found that E85 may increase ozone-related mortality, hospitalization and asthma by about nine percent in Los Angeles and four percent in the U.S. as a whole relative to 100 percent gasoline.”

Still, Jacobson’s research is open to interpretation and debate.

“Almost anytime you do impact assessment it’s never a number; it’s always a range, especially for the future where we have no data,” said Biological Sciences Prof. Stephen Schneider, a global warming expert who has been a White House advisor since the Nixon administration.

“I’m sure that he’s right that there’s a significant health side effect,” Schneider added. “The difficulty when you do these [types of studies is that] correlation is not necessarily causation. That doesn’t mean you can blow off the correlation.”

Jacobson’s research comes at a time when ethanol is receiving widespread support as an alternative to gasoline. President George W. Bush and California state legislators have both called for the production and use of ethanol. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also expressed its support of E85.

“The increased use of renewable fuels, like E85, will significantly reduce greenhouse gas, benzene and carbon monoxide emissions,” said EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood, in the LA Times article.

Schneider said that he thought encouraging the use of energy-efficient vehicles was a more effective method of reducing greenhouse gases than focusing on the production of ethanol and other “green” fuel alternatives.

“Why don’t they just stop those big monsters?” Schneider said of SUVs. “It’s so much easier and cheaper.”