Vegetable-Based Ethanol Criticized

The production of ethanol fuel using vegetables has come under increasing international criticism, due to its effect on the prices of various foods and the questionable benefit it provides.

A letter written by Cuban President Fidel Castro and published by various Cuban media stated that using food to create fuel is a “sinister idea”, and he went on to state that this would eventually cause many of the world’s poor to face starvation. He recommended the replacement of incandescent lightbulbs with fluorescent types as a way to save large amounts of fuel. According to the Associated Press, Brazil’s leader recently warned that “subsidies provided under America’s corn-based ethanol program” hurt “meat and soy processors worldwide” and threaten “global food security
.”

Meanwhile, an article in the Palm Beach Post indicated that the price of a variety of foods are going up, including cereal and eggs. Another article, on deseretnews.com, warned that corn “can’t solve our climate and energy problems”, going on to say that it has greatly increased the price of tortillas in Mexico, causing hardship for the poor. The same article pointed out that American meat prices are rising because some farm animals like chickens eat large amounts of corn. A letter to Mobile, Alabama’s Press-Register newspaper stated that ethanol is only competitive because of subsidization by taxpayers, and warned of the environmental and economic consequences to be caused by it.

Not only are the prices of corn, soybeans and other vegetables used in ethanol production increasing, but the prices of foods which they are used in the production of. For example, cattle are fed corn, so rising corn prices increase the cost of milk as well as beef.

The use of vegetables to create fuel is likely to remain unpopular, but its continuation will remain in the hands of large businesses and politicians only interested by the monetary gain associated with it.

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