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Study sees biofuels spurring global warming

Fuels made from food crops such as corn, soybeans and sugar cane can increase the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere, Reuters reported US scientists as saying on Thursday.

The study, which appears in the journal Science, says fuels produced on land that was formerly grassland, rain forest or savanna can release carbon even before they are burned, as farmers plow under forests and grasslands that used to store carbon.

Instead of cutting greenhouse pollution, Reuters reported study co-author Jason Hill as saying, the net effect is to increase it. The carbon lost by converting rain forests, peatlands, savannas and grasslands, the report says, outweighs the carbon savings from biofuels, which are meant to lessen dependence on petroleum products,
which release the carbon dioxide when they burn.

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