U.S. urged to consider effect of ethanol on the poor

Thu May 8, 2008 4:04am BST
By Noel Randewich
Reuters - UK

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States should consider spiraling food prices that hurt the world's poor when it sets policies that are funneling much of its corn crop into biofuel production, the World Bank said on Wednesday.

Global food prices for staples like wheat and rice have surged in recent years, causing hunger, riots and hoarding in poor countries. The trend is typically blamed on a combination of factors like higher food consumption in fast growing economies like China, and on bad weather that has hit crops.

Read the full story