I regularly listen to 760-WJR out of Detroit, MI. Recently there has been an advertisement that is meant to debunk the arguments that are gaining support against the use of corn based ethanol. For the life of me I can never hear exactly what group is behind the ad, but I think it may be the Michigan Corn Growers Association.
The advertisement talks about how ethanol is not taking food of people's plates because the corn we eat is sweet-corn, while the corn in ethanol is field-corn. The ad says that 99% of the corn grown in the US is field-corn, not sweet-corn, so the argument that ethanol is driving up food costs is unfounded. What's unfounded are the statements in the ad, with the exception of the market percentages.
It's true that about 99% of corn grown in the US is field-corn and that we don't eat field-corn. HOWEVER, field-corn is used in the following ways that do affect our food prices:
- Corn meal for cows, pigs, and chickens;
- Used to make corn flour for all of those delicious taco shells, corn chips, etc;
- Used to make high-fructose corn syrup;
These three categories make up an incredible amount of the corn market. If you eat "grain-fed" beef, pork or chicken, then you're eating animals that are fed by field-corn. Next, go to your kitchen cabinets and look at all of the items that have a chance of having sugar in them. Read the ingredients and you'll find that high fructose corn syrup is in the vast majority of those sugar products. Check your candies, sodas, and cereals. I'll bet that nearly all have that ingredient. All made with field-corn based corn syrup.
So when the advertisement says that ethanol is driving up food prices, it's a big fat, sugar-coated lie.
The advertisement talks about how ethanol is not taking food of people's plates because the corn we eat is sweet-corn, while the corn in ethanol is field-corn. The ad says that 99% of the corn grown in the US is field-corn, not sweet-corn, so the argument that ethanol is driving up food costs is unfounded. What's unfounded are the statements in the ad, with the exception of the market percentages.
It's true that about 99% of corn grown in the US is field-corn and that we don't eat field-corn. HOWEVER, field-corn is used in the following ways that do affect our food prices:
- Corn meal for cows, pigs, and chickens;
- Used to make corn flour for all of those delicious taco shells, corn chips, etc;
- Used to make high-fructose corn syrup;
These three categories make up an incredible amount of the corn market. If you eat "grain-fed" beef, pork or chicken, then you're eating animals that are fed by field-corn. Next, go to your kitchen cabinets and look at all of the items that have a chance of having sugar in them. Read the ingredients and you'll find that high fructose corn syrup is in the vast majority of those sugar products. Check your candies, sodas, and cereals. I'll bet that nearly all have that ingredient. All made with field-corn based corn syrup.
So when the advertisement says that ethanol is driving up food prices, it's a big fat, sugar-coated lie.
2 comments:
Mark this day in history! I agree with you Puby. You have seen through the BS being spun out by the ethanol industry & friends. And... as long as Obama keeps sweet-talking the ethanol shills, he'll not get my vote. A similar group advertised on NPR's "Cartalk" program also.
Now, try to see the light on other issues of corporate wrong-doing. ("You must resist the power of the dark side, Publius").
Misleading is misleading. I guess the issue is that I don't think as many things are as misleading as you.
There are a couple more ads that I'm going to mention today - political ads. They're ridiculous.
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