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Science

Rubber from Mushrooms 26

Posted by michael from the better-tasting-pencil-erasers dept.
Abhishek writes "The Hindustan Times reports that researchers at Gunma University, west of Tokyo, have produced rubber from the chichitake mushroom and the end-product has the advantage of not containing a protein that can cause allergies, according to Hiroshi Mitomo, head of the research team at the university's biological and chemical engineering department. The only obstacle is the high production costs which the scientists wish to conquer pretty soon."
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Rubber from Mushrooms More

Rubber from Mushrooms

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  • Not a mispelling. (Score:5, Informative)

    by pragma_x ( 644215 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @02:19PM (#11021810) Journal
    At first glance I simply thought the editor had grossly mispelled shiitake. After all, they're pretty damn rubbery in the hot-and-sour-soup from the local chinese place.

    Apparently, the chichitake mushroom is a completely different fungus [blueplanetbiomes.org]. Also called the "Tawny Milkcap mushroom", as it produces "a white 'milk', or sticky latex, seeps out and turns brown when the gills are cut".

  • Mushroom rubbers! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @02:51PM (#11022297)
    The condom flavour for gourmets!

  • A serious worry about allergies (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I know that there's quite a few people either allergic to or develop allergies to latex products over their life (probably common wherever latex gloves are needed).

    My wife, however, is allergic to mushrooms. Are we just shifting the allergic reaction from protien to fungus?
    • Most mushroom allergies are specific to one kind of mushroom. So unless she is allergic to chichitake mushrooms, she should be able to use them with no problem. Since the current alternatives to latex gloves are inferior, this could be a real boon to the health care industry. Even if they are not completely allergy free for everyone they will at least provide an alternative.
  • Hell, I learned this watching the movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)" years and years ago.

  • This is actually awesome news (Score:4, Interesting)

    by multiplexo ( 27356 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @03:15PM (#11022774) Journal
    Latex allergies are pretty common, and from talking to the nurses I know can be developed in people who are not initially allergic but who are exposed to latex on a day to day basis (nurses, doctors, prostitutes, etc). So what's the replacement for latex gloves? Nitrile gloves. Unfortunately most of the ones I've seen aren't as flexible as latex so they don't fit as well and tend to tear.

    • Yeah, this is a worry for me. I have a topic tendency (eczema, allergies to pollen etc.), and I know that I'll be wearing gloves nearly all the time in clinic. Nitrile gloves really aren't as good for tactile sensation and precision (and are more expensive).
    • I've heard that some hospitals have established latex free surgical/recovery suites, just so they don't have to wast nursing talent and keep resuscitating them. I think they use mostly PVC products and the Nitrile gloves, but a 10x more expensive latex alternative doesn't sound terribly useful when the hospitals can already beat the problem.

      No there are a few latex products that are not as price sensitive, of course. But that has to be a specialty niche.
  • Cue in predictable jokes about a) hallucinogenic mushrooms and b) latex fetishes.

  • better-tasting-pencil-erasers dept? (Score:3, Funny)

    by nganju ( 821034 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @05:55PM (#11025305)

    I'm tasting the pencil eraser made from these shrooms right now, and it does taste pretty good. Hey wait, this isn't a pencil at all, it's a giant kangaroo...

  • Alternatives to latex (Score:3, Interesting)

    by geekwench ( 644364 ) on Tuesday December 07, 2004 @07:19PM (#11026410)
    I really hope that they can get the production cost issues conquered. (Has a farmed source been considered, I wonder? Not all fungi are so accomodating - truffles being a classic example - but it would make the supply problems easier to handle if it's possible.)

    As someone who knows several people with latex sensitivities varying in intensity from rashes to anaphylactic shock, I applaud any attempts to find an alternative material. (Heck, I even develop contact dermatitis if I wear latex gloves for extended periods.) This is one area in which I think that people would pay at least a little extra for a safer product.

  • I have read of many mushrooms that make some of the compounds found in hydrogogic rocket fuel, and of others which concentrate radioactive elements. There are probably a host of organic, ready to use 'factories' in these mushrooms that may even outperform our industrial ones.

  • growing spores (Score:2, Interesting)

    by courseB ( 837633 )
    "Also, the mushrooms are not grown commercially, are found only at the height of summer and rot after only about 10 days."

    a friend recently told me about his business idea to grow mushrooms, mostly edible. the plan consisted of: a very clean greenhouse, tree log, spores to be plugged into log.

    the chichitake was on the top of his list to grow for cash. he seemed to think it was possible.

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