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May 01, 2008 | Jim Lane | Comments 0

Today in Biofuels Opinion: “Biofuels were developed in response to a very serious problem, they weren’t invented just for fun.”.

UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes told AFP:  “I think we should avoid a knee-jerk response. Biofuels were developed in response to a very serious problem, which is the effects of climate change, the need to mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce emissions. They weren’t invented just for fun. Clearly this is something that needs a new look in present circumstances… a careful, sophisticated and differentiated” approach.

InForum writes in an editorial: “More than a bushel of nonsense is being peddled by special interests bent on destroying the ethanol industry. The latest scam is blaming the apparent worldwide shortage of food and the rising price of food to the diversion of U.S. corn into ethanol production. It’s an appealing proposition, especially for multinational oil companies and the livestock lobby, but the facts of corn production, global demand for food and energy prices don’t support the argument. Indeed, if every bushel of corn now going into U.S. ethanol plants were back in the production of corn flakes, cattle feeds, corn oil and other foodstuffs, it would have virtually no effect on the price of food here at home or the availability of food on global markets.”

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