Organic news archive: June 2004
The East London Community Recycling Partnership (ELCRP) was profiled in the Guardian Society section. It is the only community-based organisation in Britain that is carrying out large-scale food disposal. The government wants 50% of households to be composting by 2006 and 35% of household waste to be composted or recycled by 2010. The ELCRP has achieved over 50% overall participation in its food waste composting project on an estate in Hackney, East London. (30/6/04 - The Guardian)
Following last week's news that Syngenta will stop all GM research from its site in Berkshire, the development of GM crops in the UK is doomed.Monsanto reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as a result of strong sales of herbicides and genetically modified seeds. The company, based in St. Louis, attributed the improvement to an earlier-than-normal rush to use herbicide products on North American farm fields, and to steady growth in bioengineered soybeans, corn and other crops. On Wall Street, the shares rose to the highest level in three years. Monsanto's net income increased 45%, to $252 million, in the fiscal third quarter ended May 31, compared with $174 million in the quarter a year earlier. (Reuters - 30/6/04)
Fresh fears have been raised about the health of people living near the shrinking Aral Sea which stretches across Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia where very heavy use of pesticides to grow cotton have left the environment in ruins. A new study has found high levels of DNA damage that could explain the region's abnormally high cancer rates: the region has the highest rate of cancer of the oesophagus in the world. This comes as the latest estimates say the Aral Sea is receding so rapidly it could vanish within the next 15 years. Once the world's fourth largest inland body of water, the sea has been drained by a poorly managed irrigation system that supplies water to cotton crops. In the last eight years, the sea has fallen another five metres leaving a vision of environmental apocalypse: vast stretches of desert, laden with heavy doses of salt and burdened with a toxic mix of chemical residues washed down over the decades from the farms upstream. (29/6/04 - BBC News)
Scientists are spending £12m looking at why our food tastes so bad. Experts from Newcastle University are leading the project, which also examines how organic farming can solve the problem and boost the nutritional value of basic foods. Test crops of cabbages, lettuces, wheat and potatoes are being grown at a research centre in Northumberland. They are being grown under a variety of conditions so that the research team can compare factors such as taste and nutritional quality between the vegetables grown organically and those grown using synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. Project leader, Professor Carlo Leifert of the Nafferton Ecological Farming Group at the University of Newcastle, said: "We need to find out what is behind reports which have proved that the taste and nutritional value of our foods is deteriorating. There are more and more indications that moving to natural production systems, such as organic farming, can improve food quality. This project will attempt to find out why this is the case, and how we can further improve on these production systems." The first set of results from the project will be presented at a conference at Newcastle University in January 2005. (29/6/04 - BBC News)
The 12 Greenpeace campaigners who prevented a US cargo ship carrying 35,000 tonnes of GM maize from docking near Bristol were arrested by police. The Daily Mirror applauded the protestors, saying that if they hadn't boarded the ship, the public wouldn't have been made aware that milk from some supermarkets comes from cows given "cheap GM feed imported from America." (23/6/04)
McDonald's is hoping to counter the threat of a ban on advertising its burgers and fries to children, by launching a £1m campaign designed to persuade kids to eat fruit and take more exercise. In contrast to McDonald's current "I'm Lovin' it" ads, which promote the company's regular high calorie fare, its latest campaign will remind younger viewers to keep fit, eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and "not to have too many treats". A series of two-minute commercials during children's TV will feature Ronald McDonald and characters called Yums who sing and dance as they deliver McDonald's healthy eating message. They're also launching a new comic book in their restaurants aimed at children and underlinging the fiver portions of fresh produce per day message from the WHO. (22/6/04 - The Guardian)
Greenpeace activists have staged a dramatic highjacking of a container ship allegedly bringing tonnes of GM crops into the country. They boarded Panam-registered vessel the Etoile on 20 June, and have vowed to stay onboard in the Bristol Channel until it is sent back to the US. Campaigners claim it is carrying up to 35,000 tonnes of GM maize [Patrick Holden is being interviewed about this story by HTV West news] (21/6/04 - The Daily Telegraph, Western Daily Press)
The health section of The Independent Review warns that sun creams are the subject of new safety fears and advocates the use of natural sun-creams, such as those by Green People, Weleda and Dr. Hauschka, many of the herbal derivatives of which are from 'certified organic sources'. (21/6/04 - The Independent)
The Soil Association will launch the Northwest Organic Centre at the Rual Business Centre at Myerscough College, near Preston, Lancashire on 24 June, proving impartial information and support to organic businesses in Cheshire, Cumbria and Lanacashire. (21/6/04)
Tesco is under fire from campaign groups Friends of the Earth and Farm for damaging rural communities and threatening the livelihoods of farmers and local shops. (21/6/04)
Taxes on fertilisers and greater regulation of farmers are being considered by ministers in a bid to crack down on the widespread pollution of rivers and drinking water supplies by agriculture, Elliot Morley, environment minister, announced. Measures such as increased environmental grants, more advice on good farming practice and encouraging joint ventures between water companies and farmers were also being considered, he said yesterday. The carrot and stick proposals, subject to three months' cons
The East London Community Recycling Partnership (ELCRP) was profiled in the Guardian Society section. It is the only community-based organisation in Britain that is carrying out large-scale food disposal. The government wants 50% of households to be composting by 2006 and 35% of household waste to be composted or recycled by 2010. The ELCRP has achieved over 50% overall participation in its food waste composting project on an estate in Hackney, East London. (30/6/04 - The Guardian)
Following last week's news that Syngenta will stop all GM research from its site in Berkshire, the development of GM crops in the UK is doomed.Monsanto reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as a result of strong sales of herbicides and genetically modified seeds. The company, based in St. Louis, attributed the improvement to an earlier-than-normal rush to use herbicide products on North American farm fields, and to steady growth in bioengineered soybeans, corn and other crops. On Wall Street, the shares rose to the highest level in three years. Monsanto's net income increased 45%, to $252 million, in the fiscal third quarter ended May 31, compared with $174 million in the quarter a year earlier. (Reuters - 30/6/04)
Fresh fears have been raised about the health of people living near the shrinking Aral Sea which stretches across Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia where very heavy use of pesticides to grow cotton have left the environment in ruins. A new study has found high levels of DNA damage that could explain the region's abnormally high cancer rates: the region has the highest rate of cancer of the oesophagus in the world. This comes as the latest estimates say the Aral Sea is receding so rapidly it could vanish within the next 15 years. Once the world's fourth largest inland body of water, the sea has been drained by a poorly managed irrigation system that supplies water to cotton crops. In the last eight years, the sea has fallen another five metres leaving a vision of environmental apocalypse: vast stretches of desert, laden with heavy doses of salt and burdened with a toxic mix of chemical residues washed down over the decades from the farms upstream. (29/6/04 - BBC News)
Scientists are spending £12m looking at why our food tastes so bad. Experts from Newcastle University are leading the project, which also examines how organic farming can solve the problem and boost the nutritional value of basic foods. Test crops of cabbages, lettuces, wheat and potatoes are being grown at a research centre in Northumberland. They are being grown under a variety of conditions so that the research team can compare factors such as taste and nutritional quality between the vegetables grown organically and those grown using synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. Project leader, Professor Carlo Leifert of the Nafferton Ecological Farming Group at the University of Newcastle, said: "We need to find out what is behind reports which have proved that the taste and nutritional value of our foods is deteriorating. There are more and more indications that moving to natural production systems, such as organic farming, can improve food quality. This project will attempt to find out why this is the case, and how we can further improve on these production systems." The first set of results from the project will be presented at a conference at Newcastle University in January 2005. (29/6/04 - BBC News)
The 12 Greenpeace campaigners who prevented a US cargo ship carrying 35,000 tonnes of GM maize from docking near Bristol were arrested by police. The Daily Mirror applauded the protestors, saying that if they hadn't boarded the ship, the public wouldn't have been made aware that milk from some supermarkets comes from cows given "cheap GM feed imported from America." (23/6/04)
McDonald's is hoping to counter the threat of a ban on advertising its burgers and fries to children, by launching a £1m campaign designed to persuade kids to eat fruit and take more exercise. In contrast to McDonald's current "I'm Lovin' it" ads, which promote the company's regular high calorie fare, its latest campaign will remind younger viewers to keep fit, eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and "not to have too many treats". A series of two-minute commercials during children's TV will feature Ronald McDonald and characters called Yums who sing and dance as they deliver McDonald's healthy eating message. They're also launching a new comic book in their restaurants aimed at children and underlinging the fiver portions of fresh produce per day message from the WHO. (22/6/04 - The Guardian)
Greenpeace activists have staged a dramatic highjacking of a container ship allegedly bringing tonnes of GM crops into the country. They boarded Panam-registered vessel the Etoile on 20 June, and have vowed to stay onboard in the Bristol Channel until it is sent back to the US. Campaigners claim it is carrying up to 35,000 tonnes of GM maize [Patrick Holden is being interviewed about this story by HTV West news] (21/6/04 - The Daily Telegraph, Western Daily Press)
The health section of The Independent Review warns that sun creams are the subject of new safety fears and advocates the use of natural sun-creams, such as those by Green People, Weleda and Dr. Hauschka, many of the herbal derivatives of which are from 'certified organic sources'. (21/6/04 - The Independent)
The Soil Association will launch the Northwest Organic Centre at the Rual Business Centre at Myerscough College, near Preston, Lancashire on 24 June, proving impartial information and support to organic businesses in Cheshire, Cumbria and Lanacashire. (21/6/04)
Tesco is under fire from campaign groups Friends of the Earth and Farm for damaging rural communities and threatening the livelihoods of farmers and local shops. (21/6/04)
Taxes on fertilisers and greater regulation of farmers are being considered by ministers in a bid to crack down on the widespread pollution of rivers and drinking water supplies by agriculture, Elliot Morley, environment minister, announced. Measures such as increased environmental grants, more advice on good farming practice and encouraging joint ventures between water companies and farmers were also being considered, he said yesterday. The carrot and stick proposals, subject to three months' cons