Letters to the Editor
REGISTER READERS



March 27, 2006





Don’t use ethanol to create fuel

I have mixed emotions about ethanol from corn.
Ethanol has great potential as the replacement for gasoline as an energy 
source. On the downside, corn is a nutritious food for humans, and its use 
as feed to grow animal protein is obvious.

[But because] about 30 percent of the world’s population suffers from hunger 
to varying degrees, making ethanol from waste products makes more sense to 
me.

I disagree with the widely publicized statement that using corn for ethanol 
will not harm the existing food supply in any future harvest. Many sources 
estimate that the hungry in this world probably could absorb most of the 
annual U.S. corn crop if an equitable distribution system existed.

Without some firm direction, the existing feedstock corn process to make 
ethanol will probably continue for the next decade. It is time for some 
objectivity on this issue because in a future time, not so far away, feeding 
the world poor will become a political necessity. Famine breeds disease and 
the world is subject to epidemics more than ever due to international travel 
and animal migration.

As an energy conservation measure, Texas many years ago placed restrictions 
on oil-well spacing by limiting the number of wells per a defined acreage. 
This program assured crude oil availability for the foreseeable future.

Such a state mandate may be feasible in defining feed stock for alcohol 
plants to minimize the use of corn as an energy commodity.

If the tax subsidies define waste products only as plant feedstock, maybe 
someday we can have our ethanol for fuel and feed the multitudes too.
— Don W. Crowley, Marshalltown.


Hog confinements create more than foul odors

The March 9 article, “State’s Official Odor-Smellers Give Livestock a Good 
Report,” forgets to tell the whole story. That hog smell is just the tip of 
the iceberg. It implies that the odor is the only problem with hog-factory 
farms (CAFOs).

Mitigating the odor from animal confinements doesn’t solve the issues being 
raised; it only keeps them out of public sight and smell. The research at 
the University of Iowa’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health indicates 
that:

• More than 25 studies surveying CAFO workers and people residing within 2 
miles of CAFOs indicate that a higher percentage of those people have 
serious respiratory problems.

• Air emissions from CAFOs include hydrogen sulfide, a toxin that can cause 
nausea, headaches and neurobehavioral dysfunction.

• CAFOs are strongly linked to water pollution.

• Homes and properties in close proximity to CAFOs can lose a substantial 
amount of value.

In a recent University of Minnesota study, researchers found that corn, 
cabbage and green onions absorbed the antibiotic chlortetracycline, a 
commonly used antibiotic in CAFOs.

When these antibiotics are ingested by humans, they can spur the bacteria 
naturally present in the intestinal tract and the environment to become 
drug-resistant, including types of bacteria that can cause serious diseases.

The above doesn’t smell too good for hog confinements.
— Robert Swanson, Fairfield.


Neila Seaman, MPA
Director
Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA  50310
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515-277-8868

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