Today in World Opinion: US, EU biofuel policy a “criminal path” according to UN Special Rapporteur; anti-speculative legislation proposed

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, described US and EU biofuels policy as a “criminal path.” The AP reported that  a transcript of a briefing to UN leaders, Ziegler said that “fuel policies pursued by the US and the EU were one of the main causes of the current worldwide food crisis.” The AP reported: “He also said that speculation on international markets was behind 30 per cent of the increase in food prices.  He said that companies such as Cargill, which controls a quarter of all cereal production, have enormous power over the market. He added that hedge funds are also making huge profits from raw materials markets, and called for new financial regulations to prevent such speculation.”  Reuters reported this morning that the UN and World Bank have set up a task force on global food prices, and warned countries not to hoard food.

From the Canberra Times: “The supposed crimes of biofuels are manifold. They’re behind soaring global commodity prices, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, increased rather than diminished greenhouse gases, food riots in Haiti and Indonesian deforestation.
Most of this, to borrow a farm image, is hogwash and bilge…If Asian rice prices are soaring, along with the global prices of wheat and maize, it’s not principally because John Doe in Iowa or Jean Dupont in Picardy has decided to turn yummy corn and beet into ethanol feedstock. Much larger trends are at work which dwarf the $US40 billion biofuel industry. I refer to the rise of more than one-third of humanity in China and India, the disintegrating dollar and soaring oil prices. Hundreds of millions of people have moved from poverty into the global economy over the past decade in Asia. Their demand for food staples and once unthinkable luxuries like meat is pushing up prices.”

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