Posted: 9/27/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Margaret Pepple S. Raghu, lead author of an article about the environmental consequences of biofuels, comments.

Biofuels may be the solution to foreign fuel and such dangers as pollution, but biofuels may pose their own dangers. Species chosen to be developed as biofuels are usually fast growing, resistant to pests and do not require a lot of water, making them prime to become invasive species. S. Raghu is the lead author of an article about the environmental consequences of biofuels that appeared in the most recent issue of Science magazine.

"The key point of this article is not to say every biofuel crop that people are considering is going to be invasive. It's more to kind of raise this issue of... we need to be aware of this before we bring it in... or we need to actually test for these kinds of things before we bring it in."

The major concern is crops spreading from the fields where they were planted and choking out native species, upsetting local ecosystems.

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