A worthy use of toxic chemicals

In a recent Reuters article titled "China scientists find use for cigarette butts," the author discussed a recent use for items thought to be nothing but evil. They ended up finding "nine chemicals after immersing cigarette butts in water."

The scientists used these nine chemicals, and "applied [them] to N80, a type of steel used in oil pipes," and the pipes rusted less. They cited nicotine as being one of the chemicals that prevented corrosion. This finding is most pertinent for producers and maintainers of oil pipelines, because it could potentially save them millions of dollars in repairs.

Before this was found, the cigarette butts were doing nothing but killing fish and looking ugly. Many people have been looking for a way to recycle the previously worthless butts however they had a large amount of trouble in finding a real use.

This article relates to comparative government because China may end up improving their environment which will improve their international relations. This is also just awesome because there is finally a use for something as evil as cigarette butts. This find could also improve the world economy, by allowing oil companies to be more efficient.

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