The hand of a woman is covered in mud as she makes mud cookies on the roof of Fort Dimanche, Nov. 30, 2007. (Ariana Cubillos/ AP Photo)

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.

Global warming remains an entirely theoretical prediction, based on climate models that do not approach the complexity of the actual world climate system. But human starvation is a very real phenomenon in the here-and-now, with reports of Haitians eating dirt "cookies" as a way of fending off hunger pangs. The world's poorest cannot compete with mandates for ethanol content in gasoline in many states.

Nice work, Al Gore. And a shout-out to the Nobel Prize committee, for giving the peace prioze to a man who has helped starve the world's poorest people. Now we know how much respect your prize deserves.  Source