Kennedy Links World Food Shortages to U.S. Ethanol Policy

CNSNEWS.com ^ | May 1, 2008 | Josiah Ryan

[GRRRRR]

I wonder what kind of additive packages will DOW put into this PE to keep it stable...antioxidants etc. Can you use the same packages you have today so that extractables/leachables will not be an issue? If so, wonderful going!! Will these PE materials be gamma stable?

[CJ Wolf]

I believe there is a connection between federally mandated consumption of ethanol, a gasoline additive made from corn, and my boat engine issues.

[MD_Willington_1976]

Teddy should know he is quite the ethanol consumer...

[P-40]

increased fertilizer runoff and corn’s extraordinary thirst for water

Personally I prefer butanol over ethanol as a gasoline substitute and/or additive but it is not ethanol that is the problem. The problem is that we are using a plant that is about as low as you can get on the old totem pole as far as energy yield per acre goes. Is this a big secret? No. Is there big money changing hands somewhere? You can bank on it.

[P-40]

Also looks like the US could put more land into production.

One thing that is being looked into now is decreasing the distance between rows to plant more per acre. Tractors do not need as much room between plants as oxen but the standard width remained the same as all these years.

[Mr. Lucky]

I was looking at the contract for May, 2008, delivery.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Oh, I know Teddy Kennedy is in multiplex ways "the problem." I'm not commenting on the rest of his sordid career. I'm just saying that government mandates that both require increasing reliance on ethanol and subsidize it (masking its true costs and subverting the efficient operation of the free market) are a big problem leading to, among other bad consequences, a spike in food prices.

A doubling of the price of (for instance) corn is hard to bear for low-income working people who already pay 30% or more of their wages on food.