www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Biotechnology is helping American farmers continue to supply an economic,
environmentally sustainable supply of food and raw material for biofuels,
the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) said today in response to a
recent Earth Policy Institute report, January 2007.

BIO noted the EPI report underestimates the impact biotechnology will have
in increasing yields of both corn and ethanol from corn as well as producing
ethanol from cellulose, meeting worldwide demand for both food and fuel.

?Agricultural biotechnology is helping farmers increase corn yields so we
can make more ethanol,? stated BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood. ?In
addition, industrial biotech companies are developing new enzymes that make
current ethanol processes more efficient and will soon allow the economical
conversion of cellulosic crop residues to fuel. With ongoing advances in
biotechnology, biofuels can help America meet nearly half its
transportation-fuel needs by the middle of this century.?

BIO?s recently released report, ?Achieving Sustainable Production of
Agricultural Biomass for Biorefinery Feedstock,? outlines current and future
feedstock supply challenges for the biofuel industry and discusses
incentives to spur sustainable production, harvest and delivery of
agricultural cellulosic biomass. The report shows that corn stover and
cereal straw can supply 200 million dry tons of feedstock annually within
three to five years, tripling current ethanol from corn production. The
report is available
[www.bio.org].

?The Earth Policy Institute?s calculations fail to take into account recent
developments in the ethanol industry that will ramp up production of ethanol
from cellulose,? said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO?s
Industrial and Environmental Section. ?The technology for production of
ethanol from cellulose is ready today. With industrial biotech processes
ready for deployment and production -- by companies such as Abengoa, Iogen,
Broin, Mascoma and others -- and currently available feedstock from
agricultural residues such as corn stalks, ethanol production could reach
three times current levels within three to five years as ethanol from
cellulose is added to the current biofuel technology mix.?

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic
institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across
the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the
research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and
environmental biotechnology products.

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