Victory for Viva! as M&S
withdraws factory-farmed ducks.
Report on David Beckham's continued promotion of kangaroo
skin football boots.
'Behind the Shine - the other Shell Report 2003' unveiling the oil
giant's environmental misdemeanours
Fish on the net; selecting the most environmentally
sustainable seafood
Garden furniture pushing orang-utans towards extinction
Social labelling scheme for flowers
Nestlé still breaking the rules update
from the International Baby food Action Network (IBFAN)
Viva! victory as M&S withdraws factory-farmed ducks
Following Viva! demonstrations against the sale of factory-farmed duck outside 200 Marks & Spencer stores across Britain in April, the company has announced that it is withdrawing all factory farmed whole ducks from sale. They will be replaced by free-range birds.
The protests were sparked by a Viva! undercover investigation in which video footage revealed the squalid, cramped and filthy factory-farm conditions in which ducks were kept by Manor Farm Ducklings, one of Marks & Spencer’s main suppliers. Following national press coverage of the exposé, Viva! sought a meeting with M&S to discuss its concerns. The meeting took place in June and M&S announced its new policy two weeks later. Shortly afterwards, Manor Farm Ducklings announced that it was going into administration.
Says Viva! campaigner Justin Kerswell: “We congratulate M&S on their decision to stop selling whole, factory-farmed duck and call on the other supermarkets to follow suit. However, we urge them to cement their commitment to animal welfare and end the use of factory-farmed duck in all their products. Of the 20 million ducks that are killed in the UK each year for their meat, the vast majority remain cooped up in prison-like sheds with no access to the outside and no water for swimming. Other supermarkets should follow M&S and our campaign will now be extended to include them. No one should be selling factory-farmed duck meat.” Viva! (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals), 8 York Court, Wilder Street, Bristol, BS2 8QH T: 0117 944 1000 Web: www.viva.org.uk
David Beckham gets his
kicks out of kangaroo slaughter
In a letter to David Beckham, international campaign group Viva! has strongly
criticised the soccer star for continuing to promote kangaroo skin football
boots. Despite providing detailed information on the barbarity of the
massacre, including shocking video footage, Beckham has refused to even
acknowledge the international campaign and has continued to add to his
personal fortune by signing a new deal with soccer boot manufacturer,
Adidas.
The Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia recently confirmed the
link between sports shoe manufacturers and the kangaroo killing by stating:
“This [soccer boot] industry is vital to the kangaroo industry. Without
it underpinning kangaroo skin prices, the entire industry would be at
risk”. With 70 per cent of the market for professional football boots,
Adidas is the driving force behind the slaughter. Despite the fact that
italso produces synthetic boots, Adidas insists on using kangaroo skin
to make several models of sports shoe, including the Predator boot, promoted
by David Beckham.
This year in Australia, 4.4 million adult kangaroos will be commercially
shot for the meat and leather industries. According to campaigners, “Baby
‘joeys’ - useless by products of this barbaric industry - are
dragged from their dead mothers’ pouches and killed by being stamped
on, bludgeoned with iron pipes or decapitated.”
Viva! urges anyone planning to travel to Australia to contact the Australian
Tourist Commission and complain about the barbaric destruction of the
unique wildlife that distinguishes this extraordinary country”.
For further information on Viva!’s campaign to stop the kangaroo
killing, go to www.savethekangaroo.com
or call 0117 944 1000.
Behind the shine
The oil giant Shell is already under scrutiny for overstating its
oil reserves. Now it stands accused of polluting communities, damaging
wildlife habitats and failing to live up to its promise of environmental
and social responsibility, according to a new report launched by Friends
of the Earth just before the company’s annual general meeting in
June.
‘Behind the Shine the other Shell Report 2003’ unveils
a catalogue of misery from communities living next door to Shell’s
operations around the world. It highlights the experiences of people living
in Durban, South Africa; Port Arthur Texas; Manila, the Philippines; Norco,
Louisiana; Niger Delta, Nigeria; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Curaçao, Caribbean
and Sakhalin Island, Russia. These people have known for many years what
shareholders were shocked to discover this year – Shell’s promises
and commitments are not all they seem. Representatives from these communities
were in London to raise these concerns at the company’s AGM.
For example, in Texas, Shell is facing legal action from the community
living next door to its operations in Port Arthur, who are literally sick
of the pollution in their backyard. Some 1,200 residents are alleging
air, soil and other contamination due to the release of “noxious
fumes, vapours, odours and hazardous substances” from the Motiva
refinery, which processes 235,000 barrels of oil a day.
Friends of the Earth believes UK companies should not be able to inflict
damage on communities around the world and yet remain unaccountable to
both their shareholders and local stakeholders for the impacts caused.
That is why the organisation is calling on the British Government to introduce
corporate accountability legislation here in the UK, to ensure that British
companies take account of the negative impacts of their operations and
can be held accountable by the communities they work alongside. Check
out www.corporate-responsibility.org for more information on the corporate
accountability campaign.
Copies of the Shell report are available from www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/behind_shine.pdf
For more information on Shell see www.shellfacts.com or contact Friends
of the Earth, 26-28 Underwood St., London N1 7JQ Tel: 020 7490 1555 Website:
www.foe.co.uk
Fish on the net
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) launches the Fishonline
website in August to inform consumers how to select the most environmentally
sustainable types and sources of seafood.
Building on its highly acclaimed book - the Good Fish Guide - MCS, the
UK’s leading marine environmental charity, aims to promote fish from
healthy, sustainable stocks that have been caught using methods which
minimise ‘bycatch’ and damage to habitats.
The Fishonline website is based on the latest scientific information about
the status of Europe’s fish stocks, how fish are caught and the environmental
impacts of different fishing methods. MCS Fishonline includes information
and a rating for over 100 species and stocks. MCS has given each fish
a rating from 1 to 5 that allows the user to identify the status and sustainability
of each fish at a glance.
A rating of 5 is given to those fish that MCS recommends be avoided because
they are overfished; vulnerable to exploitation; poorly managed; and whose
method of harvesting causes bycatch (capture of dolphins, sharks, seabirds
and non-target fish) or damage to the seabed. A rating of 1 is awarded
to the most sustainably harvested seafood including fish from certified
fisheries. Ratings 2, 3 and 4 indicate increasing levels of concern regarding
the status of the fish stock, or the environmental impact of the fishing
method used to catch them.
For quick reference, Fishonline includes a list of Fish to Avoid (rating
of 5) and a list of Fish to Eat (rating of 1&2). To make shopping
simple when you haven’t got access to the Internet, MCS has produced
a FREE pocket guide version - call 01989 561584 or write to Marine Conservation
Society, Unit 3, Wolf Business Park, Alton Road, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire,
HR9 5NB.
Garden furniture pushing
orang-utans towards extinction
Garden furniture sold by ASDA, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis is made
from rainforest timber and is responsible for pushing endangered animals
such as the orang-utan further towards extinction, according to Greenpeace.
The three companies are the worst offending high street stores selling
'rainforest-wrecking' garden furniture, and have come bottom of a league
table released by Greenpeace on where to buy garden furniture. The top
of the table shows those companies whcih were able to offer products that
had come from FSC-certified sources.
Much of the timber comes from Indonesia where nearly 90% of all timber
is illegally logged. The country has the longest list of endangered species
in the world, including the Sumatran tiger and the orang-utan.
Some retailers have proven that it is possible to use environmentally
friendly timber that doesn’t endanger rare animals. B&Q, Woolworths
and Robert Dyas sell garden furniture made of wood that is certified by
the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as being logged from environmentally
friendly sources.
For more information, visit www.saveordelete.com
or contact Greenpeace, Canonbury Villas, London, N1 2PN Tel: 020 7865
8100.
The league table, from best at the top to worst at the bottom:
1. B&Q
2. Woolworths
3. Robert Dyas
4. Focus Wickes
5. Homebase
6= Argos
6= Habitat
6= Wyevale's
6= Tesco
10. Harrods
11. John Lewis
12. ASDA
13. Marks & Spencer
Social labelling for
flowers
An industry-wide social labelling scheme is to be introduced in
Europe by international flower producers and sellers. The organisers of
the scheme, called Fair Flowers and Plants, hope to amalgamate the industry’s
Fairtrade and social and environmental initiatives, so that sellers will
be able to use a single FFP logo on products.
Dutch flower companies, which handle 60 per cent of the £6bn global
trade, will put up most of the initial money, and individual producers
will then pay for the auditing of their operations both inside and beyond
the European Union. The initiative may receive EU funding.
The first flowers bearing the social label are expected to go on sale
at the end of this year in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Flowers bearing
the FFP label will have been verified by independent auditors as produced
in accordance with a code covering areas such as freedom of association
and collective bargaining, living wages, security of employment and pesticide
use.
Even though 92 per cent of all cut flowers sold in the EU are produced
there and imports have been static since 1999, a spokesman for the initiative
said the reputation of the industry was ‘vulnerable’ because
environmental and labour standards at some suppliers were low.
Further information: www.flowercampaign.org
Nestlé still breaking
the rules
Members of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) from around
the world monitor baby food companies against the Code and Resolutions.
Monitoring results from recent research is gathered together in the report
Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2004, which profiles the 16 biggest
baby food companies. Nestlé is once again found to be responsible
for more violations than any of its competitors.
'Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2004' presents evidence of breaches
from 69 countries. It describes 2,000 violations and includes over 700
pictures of the companies’ own materials, and reported that:
• Companies try to differentiate their formulas by adding a string
of additives and then claiming performance benefits for these.
• Free and low-cost supplies continue.
• Exclusive breastfeeding for six months continues to be undermined
by most companies.
• Information to health professionals - companies violate the requirement
that this is restrict to scientific and factual matters.
• Health facilities and health workers continue to be targeted.
• Sponsorship of medical seminars, conferences and associations of
medical professionals is becoming more widespread.
Judge what the companies are doing yourself by downloading the report
from the IBFAN website or ordering
a copy from Baby Milk Action (tel: 01223 464420, price £10 including
UK postage and packing (£30 for for-profit /commercial organisations).
The report lists the companies' contact details enabling you to write
directly to the Chief Executives who put their own profits before infant
health.
