I am concerned about the current global food crisis and our participation in it. We have embarked in our country on a path leading to the deepening of the crisis of which we are major contributors. That path is the use of ethanol and biofuels. The conversion of corn to ethanol and the conversion of other crop fields to corn production for ethanol must be stopped. Using food crops to produce fuel is not only irresponsible but also inhumane. People in the third world are starving due to our desire for energy and we must find other ways to solve our energy crisis. Ethanol use, however, must be discontinued immediately in the interest of humanity and national security.

 The problems of the global food crisis are many fold; economic, political and distributional among others. The 800 pound gorilla in the living room no one talks about is ethanol. Ethanol in this country is made from corn. The conversion of this major food staple to fuel is one of the largest contributors to the current food crisis. Many acres of wheat are being turned over to corn production because corn is such a valuable cash crop for ethanol production. This is removing valuable wheat and corn sources from the food chain. Market forces are diverting dietary staples away from the market for food in favor of the riches to be found in biofuel. This is the choice we make by embracing the use of ethanol when we should be looking elsewhere for energy solutions. That we in America are about to embark on the mass use of this type of fuel is unconscionable.

People in the third world last year were spending 75% of their income on food and prices for food staples have skyrocketed They would now need 150% of their income to provide the same subsistence level survival. The math does not work. People eating two bowls of whatever the cheapest nutrition they could afford last year are now down to one bowl, one meal, per day. That is only one meal away from starvation.

Ethanol production is leading to worldwide environmental degradation through clear cutting of additional land to grow more corn. Ethanol can be made from grasses and other sources but corn is the most cost effective source crop in America. Ethanol is touted as more environmentally friendly than gasoline due to reduced co2 emissions but the required use of additional energy to create ethanol from raw materials practically cancels out the reduced emissions savings, plus studies have shown that ethanol burns 30% faster than petroleum.

Perhaps it is a matter of life and death for America also. If the rest of the world becomes a place of intense hunger, deprivation and malnutrition, those countries will be ripe for any type of radical leadership or dogma that gives them a chance to strike at the more fortunate. Afghanistan, prior to September 11^th 2001, was a perfect setting for the ideology of Al Qaeda with the prevailing poverty and misery that bred intense anger and frustration. When miserable and angry people turn to leadership which will give them if not hope at least a chance to make a statement, rationality does not prevail. If our consciences are not enough to make us address this problem then we should consider how the fomenting of such unrest is a matter of national security we can’t afford.

Respectfully,