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Although spilling commercial printing ink has traditionally posed serious threats - especially if the petroleum-based fluid found its way into an area's groundwater - soybeans have made spills about as hazardous as dumping a can of Crisco.
In fact, more than 90 percent of the daily newspapers in the United States use soybased ink when printing in color, says Jo Patterson, coordinator for the National Soy Ink Information Center in Washington, D.C.
And newspapers aren't alone: Among the more than 50,000 commercial printers in America, nearly 25 percent are using soy. To supply this need, about 100 American ink manufacturers produce at least one soy ink product. As more printers offer soy inks, industry officials note that more soybean oil is being used to produce ink than ever before, and they expect the volume to continue to grow.
According to figures from the National Soy Ink Information Center (NSIIC), in 1998, 99 million pounds of soybean oil was used in ink for printing, which was a 40 percent increase from 1997, when the use was just over 60 million.
Internationally, soybean usage for ink has grown as well. In 1999, it was estimated that more than 350,000 bushels of soybeans were used around the world. And the number of registered soy ink users was over 800.
"I would anticipate we will see a rise in usage triggered by the expansion and growth in Asia," says NSIIC's Patterson, adding...