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Bad ethanol, good ethanol

5 Jun 2008

Biofuel is in the dock at the global food summit in Rome this week, with counties divided over whether it is the villain behind food insecurity, or the cheap energy of the future.

At issue is the impact of grain-based biofuels on food prices - now at their highest levels since the 1970s - and a related wrangle over bioenergy subsidies. But there is also, increasingly, a rethink of how "green", or eco-friendly, biofuel really is.

"There is no agreement on the impact of grain-based biofuel on food prices," Alexander Müller, Assistant Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told IRIN. Various studies and think-tanks have come up with estimates of the impact of biofuel on food prices that range from 10 percent to 60 percent.

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