-Caveat Lector-
[HardGreenHerald] # 13
"Unless someone like you cares a whole lot, nothing is going to get better.
It's not."
--Dr. Seuss, 'The Lorax'
--A RadTimes production--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents:
---------------
--Earth First vs. Earth worst
--French Farmers Sentence Upheld
--Protesters take to tracks ahead of nuclear train
--When the wind blows [radioactivity]
--German police use water cannon on nuke activists
--Protesters force back German nuclear waste train
--Animals 'Could Be Buried Alive'
--Nuclear Train Protesters Removed
--Bill Moyers Takes On Chemical Industry
--Foot And Mouth Crisis (links)
--Animal rights protesters to defy police over demonstration
--Cow Diseases Lift Luxury Leather Price
--Green Party Report on Foot and Mouth
--Chemical Industry Archives
===================================================================
Earth First vs. Earth worst
As planet degrades, Greens need to learn to fight smarter
The Bush Administration is pushing back protections on clear air and water
standards. Drilling for oil and gas could resume in these federally
protected waters off the California coast.
By Eugene Linden
MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR
March 22 - President Bush has caved to pressure from energy
industry interests (code for campaign donors) and backed off a Sept. 29
pledge to take action on the threat of human-caused climate change. Bowing
to pressure from the mining industry, Bush has also dismantled federal
standards on arsenic levels in drinking water. Score two big wins for the
corporate Browns in their long-standing rivalry with the Greens in this
latest game in the World Environmental League.
Greens need to toss their play book and find a legitimate way to level
the playing field.
THIS SHOULD NOT be a surprise, since the Browns are pros
playing for money, while the greens are amateurs playing for effete liberal
ideas like the viability of the planet. Those who protect nature always seem
to be playing touch football while their opponents play tackle and buy the
ref. This is true in the global warming division of the league in the U.S.,
and every division ‹ deforestation, biodiversity, oceans, etc. ‹ in the
developing world. What is surprising is that the great majority of Greens
would not have it any other way.
This is not strictly an American problem. Not too long ago, I
listened as a highly motivated group of environmentalists discussed plans to
fund a pilot project on ecotourism in Quintana Roo, Mexico. The idea was to
point the way towards nature-friendly projects in this beautiful but
vulnerable stretch of Caribbean coast. I should have been swept up by their
idealism, but I wanted to tear my hair. Twelve years earlier, I had visited
this very area and heard highly motivated Greens discuss similar plans to
raise money to fund pilot projects in ecotourism. In the interim, highly
motivated developers have built real hotels, destroying mangroves, killing
reefs, and fouling once-clear sinotes in the process. There are no pilot
hotels.
DANCE OF DESTRUCTION
It appears that your browser doesn't support cookies, so we can't record
your vote. If you've received this message in error, please contact MSNBC
technical support.
This was but one episode of a pas de deux of destruction now
playing throughout the developing world. While Greens concoct pilot projects
and scrupulously honor ³process,² developers develop, loggers log, and
poachers poach. When a builder in Quintana Roo or Phuket, Thailand covets a
piece of beachfront property, he does whatever necessary to get the
necessary approvals, produces an environmental impact study that suggests
that sewage is good for coral reefs, and then builds. When environmentalists
find some natural treasure, they hold conferences, fund surveys and
censuses, seek consensus with locals, and then, maybe, end up with a
protected area, but no money for protection. A Green-run airline would have
pilots perpetually training for flights that were forever delayed.
EXPLOITERS¹ ADVANTAGE
When they need it, exploiters have an ace in the hole: corruption.
Payoffs and muscle, ubiquitous in decisions affecting natural areas in the
developing world, utterly trump the law-abiding, bureaucratic approach of
Greens.
Mario Villanueva, the governor of Quintana Roo, accused of taking
mordida to approve hotels, has gone on the lam, but the damage is done.
When, during the Asian financial crisis, Greens asked then-Treasury
Secretary Robert Rubin to support making new loans to Indonesia contingent
on environmental reform, he replied that the time to talk about environment
was when the country was back on the path to prosperity. Wrong: it was when
Indonesia was richest that its corrupt politicians and generals were the
most destructive.
Things are no better now, though, as free-lance loggers, squatters,
and poachers take advantage of the country¹s instability to invade the
nation¹s protected areas and remaining forests.
RISING AWARENESS, DWINDLING CLOUT
As we watch forests disappear, fisheries die, and creatures go extinct,
the burden of proof lies with those who would protect nature rather than
those would exploit her.
Little wonder that decades of mounting environmental
awareness have produced so little in the way of facts on the ground. The
decline of earth¹s ecosystems has only accelerated despite a geometric
growth in the number of environmental groups around the world. Perhaps the
most aggravating aspect of this danse macabre is that even its victims
accept it as the way it should be. As one environmentalist told me, ³Of
course we have to do an assessment; how else can we make the case for what
to save and where to put boundaries?²
He¹s right. But, doesn¹t it seem strange that even as we watch
forests disappear, fisheries die, and creatures go extinct, we continue to
agree that the burden of proof lies with those who would protect nature
rather than those would exploit her? Greens do their studies before entering
an area, while if a company is building a pipeline in Kamchatka or a road in
the Amazon, they make their plans first and let others worry about
environmental impact. The practical reality is that once a development
project is announced, with all its promise of jobs and profits, it is very
difficult to halt.
BILLS COMING DUE
Still, what seems like common sense today, may go down in history as
collective madness as the bills start coming due for the destruction of
earth¹s life support systems. Greens need to toss their play book, and find
a legitimate way to level the playing field.
The huge reservoir of environmental awareness in the rich consuming
nations offers enviros a powerful weapon to bring to bear on corporations,
financial institutions, and international lending agencies that control the
flow of money to the developing world ‹ a point made by activists at the
recent World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland. This is a useful step.
And please, no more pilot projects.
---------------
Eugene Linden is writes about the environment for Time magazine and is the
author of books. He is a regular contributor to MSNBC.com.
===================================================================
Thursday, March 22, 2001
French Farmer's Sentence Upheld
<http://news.findlaw.com/ap/i/1103/3-22-2001/20010322143510290.html>
MONTPELLIER, France (AP) _ A French appeals court on Thursday upheld a
radical farmer's three-month prison sentence for ransacking a McDonald's to
protest unchecked globalization.
Jose Bove, a 47-year-old sheep farmer, has become a symbol of
anti-globalization activists in France and abroad since he led an attack on
a McDonald's restaurant under construction in the southern town of Millau
in August 1999.
The court in Montpellier upheld a September ruling that ordered Bove to
spend three months in jail for vandalizing the fast-food restaurant.
Lawyers for Bove and the other defendants in the case argued that the
action was a symbolic, nonviolent protest against multinational
corporations. Bove's defense compared the ransacking to the Boston Tea
Party and the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution.
His lawyers have argued that French farmers were "taken hostage" by a
U.S. decision to slap a surtax on some European luxury products, including
Roquefort cheese, a product of Bove's region. They argued that the farmers'
only chance to defend themselves was to take radical action against U.S.
multinationals like McDonald's.
The surtaxes, backed by the World Trade Organization, were a countermeasure
to protest Europe's rejection of U.S. hormone-treated beef.
Bove, who spent part of his youth in Berkeley, Calif., has become a sort of
folk hero in France. His trial last month turned into an anti-globalization
festival, with thousands of costumed supporters dancing though the town's
winding streets in a parade.
===================================================================
Protesters take to tracks ahead of nuclear train
About 1,000 anti-nuclear protesters have occupied a stretch of German
rail line along which a train carrying nuclear waste is due to
travel. Germany's largest ever peacetime security operation was under
way to ensure that protesters do not prevent the controversial
shipment being delivered to Gorleben in northern Germany. Earlier,
police clashed with demonstrators and cut down Greenpeace activists
who attached themselves to a rail bridge.
Full story - BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1244000/1244540.stm
Related story: Activists chain themselves to bridge - Ananova
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_256176.html
Background: Gorleben nuclear plants resistance - OneWorldWeb
http://www.oneworldweb.de/castor/english/wendish.html
Feature: The anti-nuclear movement - Frankfurter Allgemeine, 26.3.01
http://www.faz.com/IN/INtemplates/eFAZ/docmain.asp?rub={B1311FE5-FBFB-11D2-B228-00105A9CAF88}&doc={A2E741C0-1338-11D5-A3B3-009027BA22E4}
Previous events: Germany braces for week of protests - CNN, 25.3.01
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/03/24/germany.waste/index.html
Campaign: Stop the nuclear waste transports - Greenpeace (in German)
http://www.greenpeace.de/GP_SYSTEM/1QIC5EME.HTM
Special report: Nuclear industry - Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/0,2759,181325,00.html
===================================================================
When the wind blows
<http://www.newscientist.com/newsletter/news.jsp?id=ns228434>
Beware tumbleweeds . . . they may have strayed into a radioactive pond
New Scientist magazine
31 March 2001
MIGRATING ducks and stray tumbleweeds have been contaminated with
radioactivity after landing fleetingly in ponds of waste water at a nuclear
facility in the US. The news raises questions about the practice of leaving
such ponds open to the elements.
In the mid-1990s, staff at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory (INEEL) realised that tumbleweeds were able to "blow into
waste-water ponds, and wash up on shore and blow out again", says Ronald
Warren, an independent environmental monitoring expert who is contracted to
scrutinise radioactivity at INEEL. "The tumbleweeds blew against the
[2-metre high] fence where they built up, forming a ramp other weeds could
climb over," he says.
In a two-year study, Warren and his colleagues measured how much radiation
the tumbleweeds took with them from two waste ponds near a US Navy test
reactor. The team found that the tumbleweeds, which were mostly Russian
thistle (Salsola kali), carried out a total of 66 megabecquerels of
radiation and spread it over a 32-hectare area.
"The activity from those tumbleweeds made a relatively small, around 15 per
cent, increase to the activity due to global fallout in that area," he
says. Risk to humans is slight since the nearest house is 42 kilometres
away and the tumbleweeds travelled less than a kilometre.
Nonetheless, INEEL has taken action. "They've now made the fence higher and
they go out and collect tumbleweeds and bury them," Warren says. Growing
shrubs near the ponds has also hampered the tumbleweed.
But birdlife is not so easily thwarted. In research yet to be published,
Warren says he has found 21 species of migratory duck that fly over INEEL,
and some take a rest stop in the waste ponds. Warren says the duck's
radiation levels wouldn't harm you, even if you ate a whole one. "The
maximum radiation dose you'd get would be less than you'd get from a dental
X-ray," he says.
This does not reassure everyone. "I haven't a clue why they don't cover the
ponds with any kind of net," says Margaret Stewart of the Snake River
Alliance, an anti-nuclear pressure group based in Idaho. "It seems like a
sensible kind of thing to do if you're trying to keep birds out." But an
INEEL spokesman maintains that radionuclide concentrations are so low in
the ponds that birds would face more risk of death from entanglement in
netting.
Britain had its own problem with birds in 1999, when researchers found that
pigeons visiting contaminated buildings at the Sellafield nuclear complex
were concentrating radioactivity in their droppings in the nearby village
of Seascale.
-----------
More at: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity (vol 54, p 361)
===================================================================
German police use water cannon on nuke activists
<http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10286>
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
March 28, 2001
DANNENBERG, Germany - Clashes between German riot police and environmental
activists trying to stop a nuclear waste train worsened yesterday as police
fired water cannon to disperse protesters.
Police said they fired after protesters in the north German town of
Dannenberg shot flares in the direction of the gathered police ranks.
"The situation has become more grave. Protesters have fired flares on
police, including helicopters, there are reports that activists are
preparing attacks with vinegar acid and a police car was set on fire," a
police spokesman said.
The train is carrying slag from a French plant that reprocesses fuel rods
from German reactors. It is the first such shipment since a ban imposed
three years ago and it has required one of the biggest peacetime security
operations Germany has ever seen to keep the line open.
The train was halted near the town of Dahlenburg about 14 km (nine miles)
from Dannenberg after activists damaged a section of track by chaining
themselves to the line. The six wagon-sized containers were to be unloaded
at Dannenberg and moved 25 km (16 miles) by road to Gorleben on Wednesday.
===================================================================
Protesters force back German nuclear waste train
<http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/03/03282001/reu_train_42773.asp>
Wednesday, March 28, 2001
By Kai Pfaffenbach
Anti-nuclear protesters who dodged security forces to chain themselves to
railtracks forced a train bearing atomic waste on Wednesday to retreat near
the end of its journey to a dump in north Germany.
Riot police broke up a separate blockade attempt further down the tracks
after charging a group of some 200 activists who staged a sit-in on the line.
Wielding pneumatic drills and heavy bolt cutters, police freed three of the
five protesters who had attached themselves by their arms to tubes cemented
into the bed of the rail line but they could not say when the train could
move again.
"Once the people have been removed, the tracks will need to be repaired,"
said a police spokesman on the scene in Sueschendorf, 25 km (16 miles) from
the Dannenberg depot where the waste is due to be unloaded onto flatbed
trucks for its final journey by truck to the Gorleben dump on the Elbe river.
"It could take 10 minutes or it could take hours," he added.
The train, travelling since Monday from a waste reprocessing plant in
northern France, withdrew to nearby Dahlenburg for refuelling and maintenance.
The action, carried out overnight by an environmentalist group called Robin
Wood, delayed further the arrival of the six "Castor" containers of
reprocessed nuclear waste which had been scheduled on Tuesday.
"It's an amazing success to force the Castors to turn back," said one
protester, saying this was the first such retreat since controversial
transports of reprocessed waste starting in 1995.
Some 20,000 police have been deployed to guard the shipments in one of
Germany's largest peacetime security operations.
A group of around 200 activists briefly staged a separate sit-in protest on
the tracks in Dannenberg before being charged by baton-wielding riot
police. A small number of protesters responded by firing flares and
throwing stones before retreating. One was knocked unconscious during
scuffles.
"It was a shame, we could have had a good peaceful occupation of the track
with two or three hundred people," said Matthias Hofmann, a 27-year-old
student from Hanover who said he had taken part in many anti-nuclear protests.
"If they can't send their waste to France then the reactors will have to be
shut down," he said, describing the blockades as "strangulation tactics" on
German nuclear plants which do not have their own reprocessing facilities.
Police deployed water cannon and detained nearly 600 people Tuesday evening
after protesters fired flares and threw stones. They said the scuffles were
provoked by leftwing activists, some of whom used slingshots to pelt police
with stones.
If and when the train reaches its destination at Dannenberg, loading is
expected to take between eight and 12 hours before the final 25-km
(16-mile) road journey to Gorleben.
Under pressure from France to reduce a backlog of German waste at its La
Hague reprocessing plant near Cherbourg, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
lifted a transport ban imposed on safety grounds in 1998. Two cargoes a
year are now planned.
The transports are part of a deal struck with the electricity industry last
year to phase out Germany's 19 reactors by about 2025 a timeline
considered too long by anti-nuclear activists.
===================================================================
Animals Could Be Buried Alive
Fears have been raised that animals involved in the foot and mouth
crisis could be buried alive, as 2,000 sheep arrived for culling and
burial at the Great Orton airfield near Carlisle today. Army butchers
are assisting in the operation. The RSPCA said it had "grave
concerns" about many aspects of the slaughter, urging that animals
must be killed and not simply stunned before burial. Defence
secretary Geoff Hoon insisted that the RSPCA will have access to the
site.
Full story - Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/footandmouth/story/0,7369,464503,00.html
Related story: Blair makes tourism plea - ITN
http://www.itn.co.uk/news/20010328/britain/10foottourism.shtml
Related story: Plan for firewall vaccination - Guardian
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/footandmouth/story/0,7369,464340,00.html
Audio: At the burial pits - Guardian Unlimited
http://www.pixunlimited.co.uk:7080/ramgen/news/politics/0328richardson.ra
Comment: Don't let farmers blackmail us, by Simon Jenkins - Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,248-105849,00.html
Factfile: Foot and mouth disease - Maff
http://www.maff.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/fmd/default.htm
Special report: Foot and mouth disease - Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/footandmouth/
Email: Sign up for Guardian Unlimited's daily foot and mouth update
http://www.guardian.co.uk/footandmouth/email/
===================================================================
Nuclear Train Protesters Removed
German police today managed to clear the last of the protesters who
stopped a train carrying nuclear waste to north Germany by attaching
themselves to the tracks with concrete. Track repairs will be carried
out before the train continues its journey to Gorleben. Over the past
three days police have battled against protesters trying to sabotage
the train's journey, in Germany's largest ever peacetime security
operation.
Full story - BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1246000/1246928.stm
Previous events: Germany braces for week of protests - CNN, 25.3.01
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/03/24/germany.waste/index.html
Feature: The anti-nuclear movement - Frankfurter Allgemeine, 26.3.01
http://www.faz.com/IN/INtemplates/eFAZ/docmain.asp?rub={B1311FE5-FBFB-11D2-B228-00105A9CAF88}&doc={A2E741C0-1338-11D5-A3B3-009027BA22E4}
Analysis: Anti-nuclear protests hit Germany's Greens - Guardian
Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,464062,00.html
Background: German nuclear protests - IndyMedia
http://www.indymedia.org/
Campaign: Stop Castor
http://www.oneworldweb.de/castor/english/wendish.html
Campaign: Stop the nuclear waste transports - Greenpeace (in German)
http://www.greenpeace.de/GP_SYSTEM/1QIC5EME.HTM
Special report: Nuclear industry - Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/0,2759,181325,00.html
===================================================================
Bill Moyers Takes On Chemical Industry
http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/
In a 2-hour PBS special called "Trade Secrets," Bill Moyers took on the
chemical industry for decades of lies about its harm to people and the
environment. When the chemical industry denounced Moyers, he proudly stood
his ground. "I consider myself in good company to be attacked by the
industry that tried to smear Rachel Carson when she published Silent
Spring. As its own documents reveal, this is the industry that kept from
its workers the truth about what was making them sick; that opposes the
right of citizens to know what is polluting their communities; that
manipulated its own science to hide the hazards of chemicals; that spent
millions of dollars to buy political influence, carve loopholes in
environmental law, and create a regulatory system that it controls. The
people who watch TRADE SECRETS will decide for themselves who is guilty of
malpractice."
===================================================================
Foot And Mouth Crisis (links)
Napalm solution suggested for foot-and-mouth
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_250974.html
Dublin sends in troops as disease finally strikes
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_251484.html
Army commander outlines slaughter plans
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_253391.html
Mass burial of foot-and-mouth carcasses begins
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_255488.html
Ireland plans north-south slaughter
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_255677.html
Army may step in to slaughter animals
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_256126.html
Animal culls are 'turning people vegetarian'
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_256328.html
Animals could be buried alive, warns RSPCA
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_257016.html
Uniq counts the cost of foot-and-mouth outbreak
http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_257551.html
Army prepares for biggest cattle pyre
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_258190.html
MAFF say cull 'could cause welfare problems'
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_258094.html
===================================================================
Animal rights protesters to defy police over demonstration
<http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_253541.htm>
Sat, 24 Mar 2001
Animal rights protesters are planning to travel from all parts of England
for a demonstration, despite fears over the spreading of foot-and-mouth.
Police have urged campaigners against pharmaceutical testing firm
Huntingdon Life Sciences to abandon plans to gather at Dunmow, Essex.
Three weeks ago demonstrators gathered in Diss, Norfolk, then travelled to
HLS headquarters in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Police say their concerns about tomorrow's demonstration are greater
because the protesters are set to gather in the county where foot-and-mouth
was first spotted, and where thousands of infected animals have had to be
slaughtered.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, the group which organises demonstrations
against HLS, was unavailable for comment. But the demonstration is listed
on its internet website.
Three weeks ago SHAC officials said they would not cancel demonstrations
because they did not think protesters were likely to spread the virus.
They also said foot-and-mouth was an economic disease which affected
farmers' profits, not a virus which posed a great threat to animals.
"It is believed that the demonstrators will meet in Dunmow but previous
experience suggests they may move on to any number of locations within the
county or even the region," said a police spokeswoman.
"This could spell disaster for counties such as Suffolk, Norfolk and
Cambridgeshire that have so far been relatively untouched by the
foot-and-mouth situation, having had no confirmed cases."
Police have criticised the organisers of the demonstration for refusing to
talk to officers to discuss their plans.
===================================================================
Cow Diseases Lift Luxury Leather Price
<http://www.iht.com/articles/15227.htm>
Leslie Kaufman New York Times Service
Friday, March 30, 2001
NEW YORK In Europe, the animal diseases threatening beef cattle, sheep and
pigs have produced an almost daily ritual of gruesomely charred animal
carcasses. Farmers, beef sellers and rural tourist operations have been hit
hard by restrictions aimed at containing the diseases and by customers who
are boycotting meat.
So far, the devastation in Europe has had little effect on
U.S. pocketbooks. But for at least some consumers, that appears about to
change. Europe, and in particular, Britain, is a major supplier of animal
hides for luxury leather products in the United States like car upholstery,
furniture, fine jackets and high-end handbags.
A sudden drop in beef consumption because of concerns about mad cow disease
means far fewer animals are being slaughtered for meat. This among other
factors has contributed to driving the price of steer hides up about 12
percent in the last six weeks, according to HideNet.com, an online market
report.
The surge in prices is already placing cost pressure on tanneries from
South Korea to Italy that many in the leather industry expect to see
reflected soon in U.S. markets, especially for luxury goods.
Leather is a particularly global product. Hides from Argentine cows may be
tanned in China, sewed into bomber jackets in South Korea and then shipped
to Japan for sale. But not all hides are equally prized. In the world
market, European hides are more highly valued because the animals are
raised in a way that leaves the skins with fewer blemishes.
"So much of our product that we bring in is imported from Italy," said
Jerry Epperson, managing director of Mann, Armistead Epperson, an
investment banking and research firm based in Richmond, Virginia, that
specializes in home furnishings. "We will probably see higher prices
reflected as soon as April at High Point," he said, referring to the North
Carolina town that is home to the furniture industry's largest trade show.
Other luxury products whose prices are expected to go up include high-end
cars with fancy leather interiors. "We are seeing a 20 percent spike in
prices," said Mark Yost, director of technology communications for Lear
Corp., an auto industry supplier based in Southfield, Michigan, that makes
leather seats for Volvo, Saab and Jaguar, among others.
Designer fashions will probably take a hit as well. Although clothes
require much less leather than a car seat or a couch, manufacturers must
purchase raw materials soon if they want to ensure that the perfect black
leather trench coat is in the stores next September. The shortage of
leather is mostly going to affect top-quality leather jackets and skirts,
said Josephine Seidita, marketing promotion manager of footwear and leather
and components at the Italian Trade Commission in New York.
Advances in technology and changes in labeling requirements in the United
States have served to broaden and cheapen the leather market in the United
States. Kmart Corp. sold stadium jackets for $59.99 last Christmas because
it used pigskin from China. Still, for high-end goods there is no
substitute for the real thing: Americans from the middle class on up have
become enamored of fine European leathers for a wide range of uses.
Leather furniture, for example, now accounts from some 25 percent of
furniture sales in this country, up from 4 percent in 1988. About half of
the roughly $1 billion in furniture imports last year came from Italy,
almost all of which was leather.
Europe, of course, is not losing all its cows overnight. The most immediate
threat is the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease, which has been
concentrated in Britain but has spread in scattered outbreaks in Ireland
and the Netherlands and elsewhere on the Continent. Despite the widespread
restrictions that have been imposed because of the disease, Britain has
authorized the slaughter of some 156,000 head of cattle, according to the
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, a tiny percentage of the
European herd, which is about 80 million head of cattle.
While affecting only a relatively small number of cows, foot-and-mouth
disease is highly contagious, hurting the leather industry because farmers
are burning animals, hide and all, as soon as a herd is identified as
contaminated.
By contrast, slaughter from mad cow disease does not lead to total
destruction of the animal.
But no country slaughters cattle and sheep for skins alone. The fear of
eating beef tainted by mad cow disease has reduced the number of cows
slaughtered from about half a million a week to 350,000, according to
estimates from HideNet.com.
"When OPEC shuts off the spigot, what happens at the pump?" asked Charles
Myers, executive director of Leather Industries of America, a trade group.
"Of course the price is going up."
===================================================================
Green Party Report on Foot and Mouth
Relocalising Europe's Food Supply - Green Party Report
Originated via: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Nick Whittingham)
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Excerpt:
"Why is it that Foot and Mouth, a disease that doesn't harm humans and from
which most animals recover in a matter of weeks, has virtually shut down the
countryside, downgraded vaccination, led to massive slaughter of healthy
animals, and crippled our tourist industry? The answer is to ensure that
we can continue to export meat in a world where politicians treat
globalisation like a god."
-------------------------------------------
A new report from the Green Party - 'Stopping the Great Food Swap -
Relocalising Europe's Food Supply' shows how the globalisation of the
food industry is causing huge environmental and economic problems.
The report, by trade and development expert Dr Caroline Lucas MEP
(Green, South East England), links the increase of long-distance food
transportation with foot-and-mouth disease, climate change, economic
instability, lower animal welfare standards, and other major
environmental and health problems.
The report reveals the extent of the export-import madness caused by
policies of cheap fuel and subsidised road transport. In a single year:
- Britain IMPORTED 61,000 tonnes of poultry from the Netherlands
but EXPORTED 33,000 tonnes of poultry back to the Netherlands.
- Britain imported 240,000 tonnes of pork and exported 195,000 tonnes.
- We imported 125,000 tonnes of lamb, but exported 102,000 tonnes.
- We imported 126 million litres of milk, while exporting 270
million litres.
Caroline Lucas MEP commented: "Long-distance transportation of farm
animals and meat has been a major factor in the spread of foot-and-mouth
- but it will take over FOURTEEN YEARS' worth of meat exports to
compensate for the =A39 billion damage caused by foot-and-mouth disease to
the UK economy.
"We need a major change of direction. We need local production for local
need to protect vulnerable producers, to reduce environmental impacts,
to improve animal welfare standards, and to help tackle climate change."
For comment/interviews, please call Spencer Fitz-Gibbon on 0161 225
4863, [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
ENDS
PRESS RELEASE FROM MEPs OFFICE : 'STOPPING THE GREAT FOOD SWAP -
RELOCALISING EUROPE'S FOOD SUPPLY'
(contains more detail on report itself).
The Greens in The European Parliament
Dr. Caroline Lucas MEP,
Suite 58 The Hop Exchange,
24 Southwark St., London SE1 1TY
----------------------------------------------------
Tel: 0207 407 6281 / Fax: 0207 234 0183
Countryside Sacrificed for Future Meat Exports That Will Take 14 Years
to Earn What the Present Crisis has Cost =AD the Answer: Local Production
for Local Consumption
On Sunday 25th March, at the Green Party's Spring Conference in
Chesterfield, Green MEP Dr Caroline Lucas will launch a new report
calling for a dramatic reduction of international trade in food.
Dr Lucas, MEP for the South East region, will say, "Why is it that Foot
and Mouth, a disease that doesn't harm humans and from which most
animals recover in a matter of weeks, has virtually shut down the
countryside, downgraded vaccination, led to massive slaughter of healthy
animals, and crippled our tourist industry? The answer is to ensure that
we can continue to export meat in a world where politicians treat
globalisation like a god."
The Report, Stopping the Great Food Swap - Relocalising Europe's Food
Supply, shows that according to the National Farmers Union all the UK
earns from meat and dairy exports is =A3630 million per year. Yet one
estimate of the cost of the Foot and Mouth epidemic in terms of losses
predominantly in tourism, but also to farming, was put at =A39 billion.
Even this huge sum was based on the optimistic assumption that the
problem would have peaked by the end of the month. In effect that means
that it will take more than 14 years of exports to match the cost of the
mayhem and damage done in a few weeks of the present 'cull to eradicate'
approach to foot and mouth. According to
the report, "It is time for a radical rethink of the need for ever more
international food trade, which exacerbates climate change and forces
down food and animal welfare standards and contributes to such disasters
as Foot and Mouth and BSE."
The Report, (based on background research by the UK food and agriculture
group, Sustain, and Colin Hines, author of 'Localisation =ADa Global
Manifesto') details the rise in exports in and out of European
countries, points out how this often involves the same products and
asserts that European countries could reduce imports and compensate for
this by increased local production. That would result in safer food,
better animal welfare and a dramatic reduction in carbon emission, thus
helping to tackle climate change. Its findings include:
-- Britain imported 61,400 tonnes of poultry meat from the Netherlands in
the same year that it exported 33,100 tonnes of poultry meat to the
Netherlands.
-- Britain imported 240,000 tonnes of pork and 125,000 tonnes of lamb
while it exported 195,000 tonnes of pork and 102,000 tonnes of lamb.
-- In the UK in 1997, 126 million litres of liquid milk was imported into
the UK and at the same time 270 million litres of milk was exported out
of the UK. 23,000 tonnes of milk powder was imported into the UK and
153,000 tonnes exported out.
-- In 1996 the UK imported 434,000 tonnes of apples, 202, 000 of which
came from outside the EU. Over 60% of UK apple orchards have been lost
since 1970. Even if all the UK's home-grown fruit was consumed
domestically, the UK could at present be only 5% self-sufficient in
fruit
-- Trade-related transportation is one of the fastest growing sources of
greenhouse gas emissions and is therefore significant in terms of
climate change. Although most food is distributed by road and ship, the
airfreight of foodstuffs is increasing. For example, UK imports of fish
products and fruit and vegetables by plane between 1980 and 1990
increased by 240% and 90%, respectively. UK air freight (imports and
exports) grew by about 7 per cent a year in the 1990's and is expected
to increase at a rate of 7.5 per cent a year to 2010
The Report's demand that trade and relocalisation of food production be
part of the debate about transforming the Common Agricultural Policy has
been welcomed as 'a very important contribution' by the and Chairman of
the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural
Development, the Green MEP Friedrich Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf.
He also commented that: 'Addressing the transport issue is also
essential if we are to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in order to
tackle climate change. This is therefore a key issue for debate not just
in Brussels, but also in the World Trade Organisation and in environment
and agricultural ministries everywhere.'
Caroline Lucas MEP promised that:
"As more consumers, farmers and workers are feeling the downside of
destructive globalisation, now is the time to consider how we replace
this with localisation. This would keep production much closer to the
point of consumption and protect and rebuild local economies around the
world. As a member of the European Parliament's Trade Committee, I am
committed to working to achieve this. It is the race for ever greater
international trade and competitiveness that should go up in smoke, not
animals and the future of our farmers and countryside."
The report ends with the demand that the Common Agricultural Policy be
replaced by a Localist Rural and Food Policy which must:
(a) give priority to short supply routes and regional markets by
measures that would include introduction of eco-taxation to ensure that
the real costs of environmental damage and unsustainable production
methods are included in the costs
(b) promote the production of healthy foodstuffs by providing assistance
in
change-over costs and marketing to ensure that intensive systems are
replaced by more natural ones such as organic farming
(c) end the long distance transport of animals
(d) restrict the concentration and market power of the major food
retailers
and
(e) encourage rural regeneration and employment
Ends
For further details contact:
Caroline Lucas MEP =AD 0802 721996 (after 22 March)
Colin Hines, Research Adviser =AD 0208 892 5051
Alan Francis, Press Officer =AD 0776 997 0691
===================================================================
Chemical Industry Archives
EWG
http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/
Trade Secrets
http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/
This week, PBS aired a disturbing two-hour special hosted by Bill
Moyers that explores the history of the chemical revolution of the
past 50 years and how companies have long sought to withhold
information from the public and their employees about the safety of
many substances. The program draws on a large collection of
previously secret industry documents unearthed during a ten-year
lawsuit by the family of a man who died from a rare brain cancer
after working at a vinyl-chloride plant. The family's lawyer
eventually charged all vinyl-chloride-producing companies with
conspiracy, and the discovery process brought to light hundreds of
thousands of pages of documents which reveal a closely planned and
well-executed campaign to limit regulation of toxic chemicals and the
liability of manufacturers and to withhold important health
information from all parties. A large selection of these internal
documents, over 37,000 pages, is now available for the first time at
the Chemical Industry Archives, created by the Environmental Working
Group. The site offers several essays on the archive and the
industry, including a selection of some egregious examples of
companies hiding or denying known health risks of their products. The
archive itself may be searched by keyword with several modifiers. The
documents are presented in .pdf format. This site is sure to become
an extremely important resource for health activists, journalists,
and the concerned public. The companion site to the PBS program
offers an overview of the film, interview transcripts, selected
documents in HTML and .pdf formats, chemical worker profiles and
videos, and a section on the 84 chemicals detected in Bill Moyers's
blood and urine. Visitors will also find features on industry
secrecy, regulation, money, and politics, as well as right-to-know
efforts and what people can do to help protect themselves. These are
enhanced by interactive features, documents, and links to related
resources. If you only have time to visit two sites this week, they
must be the Chemical Industry Archives and Trade Secrets.
===================================================================
"Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents.
It was loaned to you by your children."
-Kenyan Proverb
======================================================
"We cannot solve the problems that we have created with the same
thinking that created them."
-Albert Einstein
======================================================
"The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders."
-Edward Abbey
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