Conflict Over Fuel Additives

* “Stealth Lobby Drives Fuel Additive War” (June 16) mischaracterizes my commitment to protecting the health of the unsuspecting public from the dangers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). A jury found that Mobil Oil Corp. wrongfully dismissed me in a groundbreaking whistle-blowing case when I disclosed that Mobil was marketing gasoline that contained illegally and dangerously high quantities of benzene in Japan. The appellate court upheld the jury decision against Mobil, which awarded me large compensatory and punitive damages.

My fight against MTBE began years before Mobil took retaliatory action by firing me for revealing its egregious actions in Japan. It is anything but a “one-man vendetta.” My work, for more than 10 years, to prevent MTBE from being added to gasoline which the American public is exposed to stems only from my desire to prevent great detriment to the health of Americans.

Your story reported statements from the oil industry regarding compensation without any evidence of their truth. I have never received compensation for my work against MTBE, directly or indirectly, from the ethanol industry. Reporting that I am not teaching classes at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School reveals an ignorance as to how an adjunct professor position works. Adjunct professors do not need to teach.

MYRON A. MEHLMAN PhD

Princeton, N.J.

* Arco Chemical Co. spokesman Joe Piernock claims that the grass-roots organization Oxybusters must be working with a paid publicist, otherwise Oxybusters founder Barry Grossman “all of a sudden . . . got a PhD in English literature and started writing beautiful prose.”

As Grossman’s wife and unpaid Oxybusters publicist, I must thank Piernock for his kind words on my behalf. The vast majority of Oxybusters’ press releases are written by me.

IRIS GROSSMAN

Plainsboro, N.J.