News archive: October 2006

Climate change has been made the world's biggest priority, with the publication of a stark report showing that the planet faces catastrophe unless urgent measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Future generations may come to regard the apocalyptic report by Sir Nicholas Stern, a former chief economist at the World Bank, as the turning point in combating global warming, or as the missed opportunity. As well as producing a catastrophic vision of hundreds of millions fleeing flooding and drought, Sir Nicholas suggests that the cost of inaction could be a permanent loss of 20 per cent of global output. That equates to a figure of £3.68 trillion - while to act quickly would cost the equivalent of £184bn annually, 1 per cent of world GDP. Across the world, environmental groups hailed the report as the beginning of a new era on climate change, but the White House maintained an ominous silence. However, the report laid down a challenge to the US, and other major emerging economies including China and India, that British ministers said cannot be ignored. Its recommendations are based on stabilising carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere at between 450 and 550 parts per million - which would still require a cut of at least 25 per cent in global emissions, rising to 60 per cent for the wealthy nations. It accepts that even with a very strong expansion of renewable energy sources, fossil fuels could still account for more than half of global energy supplies by 2050. Presenting the findings in London, Tony Blair said the 700-page document was the "most important report on the future" published by his Government. Green campaigners said that at last the world had woken up to the dangers they had been warning about for years. Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and likely next Prime Minister, assumed the task of leading the world in persuading the sceptics in the US, China and India to accept the need for global co-operation to avert the threat of a global catastrophe. He has enlisted Al Gore, the former presidential candidate turned green evangelist, to sell the message in the United States, with Sir Nicholas. While the Bush administration refused to be drawn on the report, US environmental groups seized on it to demand a major change in policy. "The President needs to stop hiding behind his opposition to the Kyoto protocol and lay a new position on the table," said the National Environmental Trust, in Washington. The Washington Post said in an editorial that it was "hard to imagine" that the "intransigence" of the administration would long survive its tenure. "Will [Mr Bush] take a hand in developing America's response to this global problem," it asked, "Or will he go down as the President who fiddled while Greenland melted?" Sir Nicholas's report contained little that was scientifically new. But British ministers are hoping his hard-headed economic analysis will be enough to persuade the doubters in the White House to curb America's profligate use of carbon energy. In the Commons, Environment Secretary, David Miliband, confirmed that ministers were drawing up a Climate Change Bill, which would enshrine in law the Government's long-term target of reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. But he declined to go into any detail. Mr Blair said the consequences for the planet of inaction were "literally disastrous". "This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime," he said. "We can't wait the five years it took to negotiate Kyoto - we simply don't have the time. We accept we have to go further [than Kyoto]." Sir Nicholas told BBC radio: "Unless it's international, we will not make the reductions on the scale which will be required." Pia Hansen, of the European Commission, said the report "clearly makes a case for action". "Climate change is not a problem Europe can afford to put into the 'too difficult' pile," she said. "It is not an option to wait and see, and we must act now." Charlie Kronick, of Greenpeace, said the report was "the final piece in the jigsaw" in the case for action to reduce emissions. "There are no more excuses left, no more smokescreens to hide behind, now everybody has to back action to slash emissions, regardless of party or ideology," he said. The CBI director general Richard Lambert said a global system of emissions trading was now urgently needed as a "nucleus" for effective action. "Provided we act with sufficient speed, we will not have to make a choice between averting climate change and promoting growth and investment." By Colin Brown and Rupert Cornwell in Washington, for The Independent

Loopholes on brand advertising and sponsorship could scupper a UK junk food advertising ban, warn charities Sustain and the National Heart Forum. In anticipation of the imminent announcement of new rules on junk food advertising from Ofcom, the National Heart Forum and Sustain (the alliance for better food and farming) cautioned MPs today that proposals could be fatally flawed if they do not deal with brand as well as product advertising. In a briefing note to all MPs highlighting the health and social benefits that would flow from a restriction on TV junk food advertising before 9pm, the two charities also drew attention to the possibility that apparently robust restrictions on junk food ads may not remove commercial pressures on children if Ofcom opts to permit brand advertising and sponsorship. These are adverts where no product appears, or could be simply a logo appearing on a TV programme. “Ofcom’s draft proposals do not apply to brand advertising. Unless they do, it will leave the door wide open for junk food and drink companies to shift their marketing spend into programme and channel sponsorship, and into the sort of high-impact brand image advertisements we saw on billboards from tobacco companies in the 1990s,�? said Jane Landon, deputy chief executive of the National Heart Forum. “Ofcom clearly recognises the risks of leaving brand advertising unregulated, but it is likely to be under huge pressure from the junk food companies and advertisers to throw them a lifeline. We now hear that Ofcom will permit entire commercial channels to be sponsored." "Sponsorship is like any other bit of marketing – it promotes a product to a target audience. If Cadbury’s sponsorship of Coronation Street does not ultimately sell chocolate, then what does it do?�? said Richard Watts, coordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign at Sustain. Only this week, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown MP said he supported a restriction on junk food advertising up to 9pm as part of a comprehensive range of measure to improve children’s health and well-being.

Women who take a daily multivitamin tablet can boost their chances of getting pregnant. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health who followed 18,000 women over eight years found those who took a multivitamin on at least six days a week had a 40 per cent lower risk of suffering ovulatory problems leading to infertility. About 150,000 women in the UK have ovulation problems - almost one in 10 of all women affected by infertility. It is the second leading cause of female infertility after problems with blocked fallopian tubes. Jorge Chavarro, the research fellow at Harvard who led the study, said it was the largest so far conducted. The women had all successfully become pregnant or had tried and failed to do so, and were selected from a separate research project which has followed the health of 100,000 nurses over 15 years. "Multivitamins are packed with a large amount of nutrients, so we looked at which were crucial. As best as we could tell it looked as if folic acid was the nutrient that played the biggest role," Dr Chavarro said. A lack of folic acid, which is found in leafy green vegetables and liver, is linked with spina bifida. Pregnant women and those trying to conceive are advised to take supplements. by Jeremy Laurance for The Independent

Leonardo DiCaprio is set to produce a new environmental reality TV series entitled "E-topia." Along with Madison Road Entertainment and Pilgrim Films, DiCaprio's Hollywood company Appian Way will head the production which will transform a desolate U.S. town into an eco-friendly community, Daily Variety reported. "Survivor"