New Sustainable Green Industry Flourishes Thanks to US Desert Plant

Released on: January 14, 2008, 2:37 pm

Press Release Author: Yulex Corp.

Industry: Agriculture

Press Release Summary: A new clean tech industry based on guayule is producing a
commercial source for bio-based rubber, latex, alternative energy, and other
consumer and industrial products

Press Release Body: NEW SUSTAINABLE GREEN INDUSTRY FLOURISHES THANKS TO U.S. DESERT
PLANT

A new clean tech industry based on guayule is producing a commercial source for
bio-based rubber, latex, alternative energy, and other consumer and industrial
products


MARICOPA, AZ; January 14, 2008 - Guayule, a versatile desert plant native to the
U.S. Southwest and now being grown in Australia too, is the foundation for a new
renewable and eco-friendly industry. Commercialized in 2006 as a source of natural
rubber latex for safer medical and consumer devices such as surgical gloves,
catheters and condoms; today, guayule and is the only potential domestic source for
another vital industrial material--bulk rubber--in the United States.

Guayule has a history in the U.S. as an alternate source of rubber. During World War
I when the Japanese cut off shipping routes between Southeast Asia, where close to
100 percent of the world's rubber supply is sourced, and the U.S., the federal
government rationed rubber and planted guayule fields to create a secure domestic
source. After the war, trade with Southeast Asia resumed and the fields were
destroyed. Today, the U.S. is once again vulnerable and dependent on external
sources for this important industrial material which is the second largest import
next to oil. 80 percent of the world's natural rubber supply for critical products
such as airplane tires and latex gloves comes from a single tree in Southeast Asia.

During the past several years, anecdotal evidence of rumored leaf blight outbreaks
in India and Thailand have spread and the fear of losing this commodity increased.
An October 2007 article published by industry-leading trade journal Rubber &
Plastics News confirms the possibility of economic havoc with specific details about
an outbreak of leaf blight "throughout the continents where 93% of the world's
supply of natural rubber is produced."

In addition rubber prices have been increasing sharply as world demand rises, while
synthetic alternatives to rubber and latex require petroleum to produce and,
therefore, are increasingly expensive as well as inferior in performance to rubber
and latex from natural sources.

One company in the United States, Yulex Corporation, has developed proprietary
guayule-based technology to extract its latex content for dipped latex medical
products while investing heavily in new technologies and science to produce bulk
rubber on a sustainable basis from the plant while using the bagasse for green
energy production. Yulex Latex is on the market and being used to make balloon
catheters that are safer for patients with Type 1 Latex Allergy. The Yulex
scientific and agricultural team, USDA Agriculture Research Service and academic
partners including the University of Arizona have developed best practices for
cultivating and harvesting guayule, increasing its latex yields and developing the
highest quality guayule seeds for proprietary guayule lines. In 2006, Yulex
Corporation expanded operations to Queensland, Australia where guayule seedlings
will be harvested for their latex in 2008.

Guayule is also being investigated by Yulex Corporation and its government and
academic partners for producing renewable energy for electrical power and biofuels,
resins for bioadhesives and pesticides, bulk rubber for tires, and composites for
anti-termite particle board and cellulosic insulation.

To learn more about guayule and this exciting industry, visit www.guayuletech.com.

ABOUT YULEX CORPORATION

A renewable and sustainable enterprise, Yulex Corporation applies intelligent crop
science and proprietary clean technology to create biobased industrial products from
guayule (why-YOU-lee), a plant native to the North American high desert and now an
international industrial crop. Yulex Latex was launched in 2006. Made from guayule,
Yulex Latex is naturally free of the allergens associated with Type 1 Latex
Allergy.

Through Yulex Corporation's innovations, a new industry producing natural rubber
latex and rubber, green fuel and non-toxic adhesives is born.


Web Site: http://www.guayuletech.com

Contact Details: Contact:
(W)right On Communications
Betsy Brottlund
760.591.0700
bbrottlund@wrightoncomm.com

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