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America's response to increasing oil prices and global warming has been to look for alternative fuel sources. One fuel in particular is getting the lion's share of publicity and investment. That fuel is ethanol, typically in the form of E85 fuel, a mixture of 85 percent gasoline and 15 percent ethanol.

Politicians love ethanol because they know that subsidizing ethanol made from corn is popular with farmers, an important voting block in many states. American automakers promote it because so called "flex fuel" vehicles are one of the only areas where they enjoy technological superiority over their Japanese rivals.

But if most reasonable individuals would agree that political pandering and selling a few more trucks does not necessarily equate to sound energy policy, many still have not looked closely at the bill of goods they are being sold. When they do, they will discover that ethanol is even more damaging to the environment than gasoline, has no potential to meaningfully impact oil consumption, and comes at a considerably higher costs for consumers.

The oft-sited myth that ethanol is environmentally friendly is based on the fact that fewer carbon emissions are creating by burning ethanol than burning an equivalent amount of gasoline. This, however, does not consider emissions from production.

Production of ethanol emits more carbon than can be saved by using it as a fuel. In fact, a study conducted by the University of California Berkley determined that producing one gallon of ethanol consumed more than four times the energy of producing one gallon of gasoline. Most of this energy input was in the form of fossil fuel, therefore generated four times the emissions of producing gasoline.

Environmental impact has to be measured in ways beyond simple greenhouse emissions and here ethanol really fails. Ethanol contributes more pollutants to the air than gasoline in the form of ozone. The eye and lung irritant is formed when ethanol is burned or evaporated and is known to contribute to cancer. In fact, a Stanford University study recently estimated that converting automobiles to E85 fuel could increase cancer rates by as much as nine percent in large cities like Los Angels and contribute to a four percent increase in cancer nation-wide.

Despite its disappointing environmental contributions, ethanol holds sway with many Americans as a domestically produced substitute for foreign oil. Americans can hardly be blamed for seeking alternatives to increasingly expensive fossil

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