Suchergebnisse

The United States of America and Brazil are the world's first and second-largest biofuels producers. The United States (U.S.) has dedicated a significant portion of agricultural land for crops to produce biodiesel, while Brazil has been using sugar cane as raw material to produce ethanol. To make the world's top producers in global biofuel markets, various institutions in each country have played significant roles. These institutions include renewable energy legislators, bioenergy policymakers, and energy ministries of their governments. This study delineates the historical role of these institutions responsible for the sustainable development of biofuel industries in both countries. It also provides an overview of economic impacts as a result of institutional decisions. The study reveals that systematic legislations and sustainable and robust renewable energy policies of government institutions have helped the U.S. and Brazil to boost their bio-economies. As both countries intend to keep expanding their biofuel productions, the role of key government institutions is vital in the sustainability of biofuels.

The European Food Safety Authority and its Scientific Expert Working Group on the Assessment of the Geographical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Risk (GBR) were asked by the European Commission (EC) to provide an up-to-date scientific report on the GBR in the United States of America, i.e. the likelihood of the presence of one or more cattle being infected with BSE, pre-clinically as well as clinically, in USA. This scientific report addresses the GBR of USA as assessed in 2004 based on data covering the period 1980-2003. The BSE agent was probably imported into USA and could have reached domestic cattle in the middle of the eighties. These cattle imported in the mid eighties could have been rendered in the late eighties and therefore led to an internal challenge in the early nineties. It is possible that imported meat and bone meal (MBM) into the USA reached domestic cattle and leads to an internal challenge in the early nineties. A processing risk developed in the late 80s/early 90s when cattle imports from BSE risk countries were slaughtered or died and were processed (partly) into feed, together with some imports of MBM. This risk continued to exist, and grew significantly in the mid 90's when domestic cattle, infected by imported MBM, reached processing. Given the low stability of the system, the risk increased over the years with continued imports of cattle and MBM from BSE risk countries. EFSA concludes that the current GBR level of USA is III, i.e. it is likely but not confirmed that domestic cattle are (clinically or pre-clinically) infected with the BSE-agent. As long as there are no significant changes in rendering or feeding, the stability remains extremely/very unstable. Thus, the probability of cattle to be (pre-clinically or clinically) infected with the BSE-agent persistently increases.