Brazilian president defends biofuels at UN summit

"Biofuels are not bandits," he said. "To the contrary, if they are produced in a serious way they can become an important tool to lift the poorest countries out of food insecurity," he said.     

"We must remove the smokescreen of powerful lobbies that blame ethanol production for the rise in food prices. It's a mockery, an affront," Lula said. "The truth is that the inflation does not have a sole explanation but is due to a combination of factors."     

Ethanol production "is not a threat for the Amazonian forest and does not reduce the food supply," he said.      Lula also denounced the "intolerable protectionism which stunts and disrupts" farming in poor countries. "Genuine food security should be global, and achieved through cooperation," he said.