Probe into Bev. Hills cosmetic surg. 'turned human fat from liposuctions to biodiesel for his 4x4'

The Daily Mail (U.K.) / various ^ | December 23, 2008 | Paul Thompson

[Stoat]

A top Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon says he used fat he removed from patients in liposuction operations to power his 'green' 4x4 car.

U.S. authorities have launched an inquiry into claims made by Dr Alan Bittner that the fat he had sucked out of patients in liposuction operations was turned into biodiesel.

Bittner wrote on his website: 'The vast majority of my patients request that I use their fat for fuel -- and I have more fat than I can use.

'Not only do they get to lose their love handles or chubby belly, but they get to take part in saving the Earth.'

The surgeon called his fuel 'lipodiesel'.

He posted his claims on a website lipodiesel.com, which has since been taken down after the sudden closure of his clinic on Beverly Hill's famed Rodeo Drive.

Dr Bittner is believed to have moved to South America after several patients filed a   lawsuit against his practice for allowing his unlicensed girlfriend to carry out operations.

U.S. business magazine Forbes reported that Dr Bittner used the 'lipofuel' to power both his Ford Explorer car and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator.

Biodiesel fuel is more commonly made from vegetable oils, although half of the U.S. supply comes from beef or pig products.

[RichInOC]

Yes, it’s freaky.

On the other hand, it’s not like Nazi Germany. These people are voluntarily asking him to vacuum the fat out. They don’t necessarily want it back. In fact, they probably don’t...unless they’re planning to use it in their own diesels. Actually, this strikes me as one of the less unsanitary ways to get rid of the stuff. The only problem is, now I look at Michael Moore and I see a giant jerry can with glasses and a Tigers cap.

[Gondring]

Paper Street Soap Company?

[Gondring]

How many MPG?

How about MPC...?

Seen in Philadelphia.

[Oberon]

Ping for later...

[nothingnew]

Gasolent Green...it's people!

FMCDH(BITS)

[seowulf]

I’ll bet this guy drives a convertible with a top made out of stitched together skin from tummy tuck patients.

[Red Badger]

FMCDH(BITS) ??????......

[Yo-Yo]

Fill 'er up!

[stillafreemind]

Why do I feel the need to shower when watching or reading news these days? Sick.

[CrazyIvan]

Cummins furnished the diesel engines for one of the first polar expeditions. They were tested on whale oil in case the explorers had to “harvest” their fuel locally.

[lacrew]

Theoretically possible I suppose; but, this guy looks like a scam artist. I doubt he really did this.

My old high school uses grease from the kitchen to power its two buses. A cafeteria serving three meals a day (and bacon every day!!) still isn’t enough. They also have to buy diesel to make up the difference.

I doubt this guy sucked enough fat out of people to fuel his vehicle.

There is a line in the article stating its against trhe law to use human waste to power a vehicle - how on earth did they come up with a law that specific?

[Slings and Arrows]

Dr Bittner is believed to have moved to South America after several patients filed a lawsuit against his practice for allowing his unlicensed girlfriend to carry out operations.

Worrywarts. He trained her.

---

[briarbey b]

Could put funeral homes out of business and open up cemetary land to save the earth. What was that movie?
Solvant Green?? Anyone remember? The stuff I read sounds like the sci-fi movies I watched as a kid!!

[Daffynition]

[Stoat]

There is a line in the article stating its against trhe law to use human waste to power a vehicle - how on earth did they come up with a law that specific?

I'm guessing that what the Daily Mail author is referring to is not so much a specific law pertaining to the use of  human waste to power a vehicle but the general laws which strictly regulate the disposal and / or usage of any human body part, body fluid or product thereof.    Just as children are encouraged to set up a lemonade stand rather than a blood-donation facility on their street corner because all actions pertaining to human blood is strictly regulated, so also cosmetic sturgeons are barred from disposing of or making use of excess body parts or fluids in a manner that diverges from official legal standards, many of which pertain to biohazard issues.

This is a rather basic concept, however, that anyone who is even vaguely connected with the healthcare professions is going to learn in the first week of their entry-level classes and so it's astonishing to me that such a high-profile sturgeon would be so utterly brazen in his open flaunting of such a commonly-known legal principle.

[grjr21]

[HardStarboard]

Rosie O'Donnell would get you at least 125 miles...in a Hummer H1

[loungitude]

Thanks, Stoat. You said it perfectly.

[ApplegateRanch]

Biodiesel fuel is more commonly made from vegetable oils, although half of the U.S. supply comes from beef or pig products

Gee, I wonder what C.A.I.R. will have to say about this? Poor, unsuspecting Muslims possibly contaminating their fuel tanks.

And don't even think about the horror involved it they splash or spill any on themselves.

[Stoat]

Thanks, Stoat. You said it perfectly.

awww...why thank YOU for your kind and gracious compliment  :-)

Upon reflection, I have an idea as to how this happened.  You have a talented and probably brilliant  sturgeon whose roots are in a country not known for extreme (legal) wealth.  He moves to America where he is going to be treated FAR better in every possible way than he would be in Colombia.  He develops a 'new, innovative procedure' ("liposculpting") which proves immensely popular and lucrative (never mind that if the lawsuits are any judge, possibly quite dangerous and unpredictable as well), and he develops the perspective that he is a Mozart, a visionary who doesn't have to follow the rules that everybody else follows because, after all, he is so very much more brilliant than everyone else and those laws and rules are just for the dumb, unwashed masses.  OF COURSE his methods will be celebrated and an exception to the rules will be made for him because he is so very much better than everyone else.

Somebody like that can buy diesel by the tanker truckload for his personal vehicles....he was doing this for his ego, IMHO.