"I was born in the sight of water and it is there, that I feel my best. The Whales and the Albatross',.... they are my brothers" Aloha, Chuck

I've been a surfer, diver, sailor, etc. ... general all around waterman, for nearly all of my 62 yrs. The Ocean is a sacred place, to me. My soul aches for my finned brethren. Fell free to pass this along to someone that might make sense of my observations:

Quote:  "I'm not a scientist. I'm a humble machinist. I own my own shop...... I've observed something curious.

Most of the machining, I do is in aluminum, which gets pretty fouled with cutting oils and such. I use a cleaner/degreaser, purchased from Home Depot, called Zep Purple. Works great, too. On the safety label, it says NOT to use it on Aluminum. Doesn't say why, but when I spray it on, it almost immediately starts to foam and emit a gas that makes it very hard to breath. Burns the throat and chest. Uncontrolled coughing. Very unpleasant. Even after heavy dilution. One must use it carefully. If I leave it on the part, for more than a few minutes, it starts to discolor the surface, as if it is burning the material. It obviously reacts with aluminum. No such reaction, with ferrous alloys or stainless steels. Don't put it on anything but aluminum, and it acts like dish soap.

Why, you ask would this be of interest to this forum? Well, the active ingredient is 2-Butyl-Ethanol. I understand, this is one of the main ingredients, in the chemical dispersants being sprayed on the gulf oil spill. And, since most of the world's aluminum can be found, dissolved in the salt water of the world's oceans.......Well, I'm sure you get my drift..... "

 up to 10% of Zep Purple could be 2-butoxyethanol <10%
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=5005022