Biofuel production is a hot topic these days. A hot topic and a hot potato. While it can be argued that biofuel has its advantages, not least of which is having it stand in for fossil fuels, it does have its drawbacks.

For one thing, when you use land and resources to raise plants to make fuel instead of food, a tug-of-war is basically bound to happen. There is, after all, a limited space on the Earth to grow plants on.

The US government under the Bush administration has claimed that plant-derived fuels contribute no more than 3% to inflation in food prices. A leaked confidential report from the World Bank, however, says something else.

According to the report, biofuels raise food prices up by as much as 75%, grossly higher than what was estimated by the US government. It is believed that the report was suppressed as to spare the Bush administration the political pressure, and the embarrassment.

The report basically states that as grains and vegetables are being used more for fuel rather than, well, food, the end result is that the price of food (for eating) goes higher. Many countries might not feel the full effects of the inflation, but poorer countries will.

Not that I'm against biofuels. I just want to pose the question: can the world afford it? And I'm not just talking money.

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