The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 319
An Open Letter to Tim Searchinger and all the other
Gasoline Whores
Originally published February 11, 2011
Hi Tim –
In reading your editorial in today's Washington Post, I'm reminded of the famous
movie line, “Just when I thought I caught up with the rat race the rats got faster.”
For a few years, whenever those opponents of ethanol launched a new attack
on widespread acceptance or expansion of ethanol, we would hear about how
the use of corn was affecting the overall price of food and causing worldwide
starvation.
It took some time, but finally, ethanol advocates started to prove that corn use
for ethanol had no relationship to the rise in corn prices or general food prices,
and that its use to make biofuels did not contribute to either a shortage or world
hunger – primarily because the world outside of America doesn’t eat corn, they
eat wheat. In this regard, the World Bank’s statement issued last summer reversed their earlier claim that ethanol was the reason for corn price rises and
shortages.
Obviously, from your story, you know that the cost of the corn actually used in
a box of corn flakes is a minuscule amount, roughly 1.5% of a $4 retail price.
