Ethanol in and of itself is a great fuel.
Questioning if it is properly made or not is a legitamate and resposible question to ask.
My current understanding is that, in the Midwest, it is made from corn that isn't sold for human consumption anyways.
Corn is milled and mashed, and made into ethanol, CO2 (sold to beverage companies) and the leftover mashed up corn becomes animal food.
I spoke on the phone yesterday to a distillery less than an hour from my house. (
United Ethanol LLC)
Ethanol can be made from many sources, including compost and other things people don't eat anyways.
An E85 conversion would let me run a vehicle on commercially available fuel right now, with the idea that ethanol production will only get better in the future.