More Corn Goes to Fuel

The hunger to turn plants such as corn and soybeans into biofuels is growing. But some
experts say using food for fuel is unwise. Kyle Norris reports:

Transcript

The hunger to turn plants such as corn and soybeans into biofuels is growing. But some
experts say using food for fuel is unwise. Kyle Norris reports:


More and more of the country’s food crops are being used to make biofuels. Last year
twenty-seven percent of the country’s corn crop was used to make ethanol. And seventeen
percent of soybean oil production was used for bio-diesel. The demand for more corn and
soybeans for biofuels has in part driven up the price of grain.


Marion Nestle is a Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York
University:


“The idea that you would grow something that animals or people can eat and use it for
fuel for automobiles seems just crazy to me.”


She says when crops are used for fuel there’s less food for people and animals. And that
contributes to rising food costs. Higher grain prices affect meat, dairy, bread, and many
processed foods.


For the Environment Report, I’m Kyle Norris.

Related Links

Study: Diet Worsens Air Pollution Effects

A lot of studies have linked air pollution with heart and lung problems. A new study suggests your diet can worsen air pollution’s effects on you. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland has more:

Transcript

A lot of studies have linked air pollution with heart and lung
problems. A new study suggests your diet can worsen air pollution’s
effects on you. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland
has more:


Every time you inhale, you’re breathing in tiny particles from dust, soot
and smoke. They can increase both the plaque buildup in your arteries,
and the risk of a heart attack or stroke.


Now, a study led by Dr. Lung Chi Chen at New York University’s
School of Medicine says a high fat diet combined with bad air led to a
faster buildup of plaque in the arteries of mice. He says that’s because
air pollution affects lipids – fats – in the blood. It changes their
characteristics, or oxidizes them, which leads to more plaque on artery
walls.


“If the mice are fed with high-fat, then the level of the oxidized
lipid will be higher, because they have more lipid in their blood.”


Dr. Chen says arteries of mice on a high-fat diet and breathing dirty air
were 42-percent blocked. Mice breathing clean air had arteries that were
26-percent blocked.


He hopes the study not only encourages people to eat better, but also
persuades the government to toughen air quality standards.


For the GLRC, I’m Michael Leland.

Related Links

FDA Faces Lawsuit

A national coalition of scientists, health experts and religiousleaders is suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The lawsuitfiled today (Wednesday, May 27th) claims that the F-D-A’s policy towardgenetically engineered food doesn’t protect consumers. The Great LakesRadio Consortium’s Steve Frenkel reports: