Food will be turned into fuel and people will go hungry if Parliament passes a new bill demanding greater use of corn-fuels like ethanol, critics say.

Bill C-33, an amendment to the Environmental Protection Act, has the support of both the Conservatives and Liberals and is poised to pass in the House of Commons.

If passed, it will give the government the power to implement regulations requiring 5% of all fuel to come from biofuels, such as ethanol, by 2010. Making the switch, says the government, would have the environmental effect of taking one million cars off the road.

But critics of ethanol say that the billions in subsidies given to producers in the U.S. and Canada is driving up the price of corn. The rising price, they say, has made it almost impossible for the billion people living on less than a dollar a day to afford to eat.

'CLIMATE CHANGE WORSE'

"Demand for biofuels like ethanol are not only a major cause of increasing prices, but research suggests they may make climate change worse," Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada, said in a statement.

The UN's World Food Programme says ethanol is only one factor driving up food prices. The leading causes are rising prices of oil, drought in Australia, and increasing demand for food from India and China.

Concerned about the widening food shortage, the NDP has introduced an amendment seeking to have Bill C-33 sent back to committee where issues such as food scarcity can be considered.

"We need to take a breath here and think about this," Nathan Cullen, NDP environment critic, said.