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Bath Friends of the Earth
has signed up to FoE's GM-Free Britain action, launching its GM-Free B&NES
Campaign at the end of October with an email urging the Council to declare
B&NES GM-Free. This is the first target for us to achieve, and you
can help by writing to local businesses and organisations involved in providing
food, either directly to consumers or in schools or works canteens, to
get them to support the campaign. You can also write to Margaret Beckett
and give her a bit more bedtime reading on GM. After all she is supposed
to be publicly consulting us. ZZZ - wake up, Margaret B!
Wales has been GM-free since 2000 and FoE's aim is to have at least 10 new GM-free Councils by the end of 2003. The Campaign coincides with the government's public consultation on GM which runs from this autumn to next summer. This is a rather quiet consultation so far with all indications pointing to the government's determination to give commercial authorisation to GM crops against the public will. The first crop likely to get the go-ahead is Bayer's (formerly Aventis') T25 fodder maize, the one intended for cattle which Aventis tested on chickens, a surprising proportion of which died. As most maize is grown in south-west England, our region is a Campaign hot spot.
We have asked the Council to:-
The letter to Margaret also asks her to reverse the government's opposition to European Commission proposals aim to make GM labelling rules more comprehensive. The UK, the only EU member state against, scuppered the legislation on 17 October. Existing EU rules say that food containing 1% or more of GM DNA must be labelled. The new regulations would have covered animal feed and GM derivatives (such as vegetable oil and maize syrup) for the first time and would have reduced the amount of GM DNA to 0.5%. Despite recent Europe-wide opinion polls showing that 71% of the public do not want to eat GM food, and 94% want clear labelling to give them a choice, the Commission has no plans to try again. The greater clarity these rules would have provided has been left to the discretion of national governments, which may or may not introduce national legislation.
"Dear xxxxxxxGM-Free B&NES
I am writing to you to ask for your support in the GM-Free B&NES Campaign which Bath Friends of the Earth launched on 26 October.
Research demonstrates many uncertainties still surrounding GM (genetically modified) crops and food, including the long-term safety for consumers and the environment, and the contamination of other crops such as organic produce, which would kill this type of farming and reduce consumer choice. The majority of consumers have expressed a wish not to eat GM food. Yet central government is close to granting full commercial approval to several crops, particularly fodder maize (which Bristol University discovered had been tested by the seed company on chickens not on the cattle for which it is intended), oilseed rape and beet.
The claims of the GM seed companies for benefits to farmers and the environment, particularly the seed companies' projected lower overall cost of this type of farming as a result of less need for chemical pesticides and herbicides, have been shown to be highly exaggerated. A recent Soil Association report details serious economic damage to farmers in the USA and Canada from the application of GM crops there.
I am also concerned that since there is no liability legislation at present to ensure that any harm caused by GM crops, food and feed is born by the companies marketing the GM organism, liability is likely to fall on farmers, food businesses and other service providers supplying GM food.
The National Assembly for Wales debated and voted on this issue in 2000 and declared unanimously that Wales should be GM-Free and should develop a food and farming economy based on sustainable principles. I believe that this policy makes sound economic sense for B&NES. I am sure as a leading business in producing and promoting high quality food in B&NES that you will agree.
Please would you write to the leader of the council adding your support to this campaign.
Bath FoE has identified key policies which we are asking the Council to adopt as follows:
We would also urge you to also consider adopting policies to avoid GM foods and animal feeds when you purchase ingredients for your business.
- request the Secretary of State for Agriculture to provide legal protection for this county as a GM-free area, in line with Article 19 of 2001/18/EC
- ensure that no GM crops are grown on land over which it has control
- adopt a GM-free policy for all goods and services for which this council is responsible.
If you would like to discuss this matter in more detail please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
etc
Mrs Margaret Beckett
Secretary of State, DEFRA
Nobel House, 17 Smith Square
London SWIP 3JR
Dear Mrs BeckettGM-Free Britain
I am extremely concerned about the potential impact of the commercial growing of GM (genetically modified) crops on my area, Bath & North East Somerset. I am aware that in the next couple of years the Government will decide whether to allow GM maize, oilseed rape and beet to be grown on a commercial scale in the UK. I want to ensure in future that, like the majority of voters, I can still choose not to have any GM ingredients in my diet. I also want to ensure that I can continue to buy organic food.
The evidence from GM crops being grown commercially in North America strongly suggests that contamination of seeds and crops already occurs and that the separation between GM and non-GM crops is inadequate. Contamination of this kind will kill off organic farming, thus denying the increasing number of consumers who want organic food. It will reduce the farming options available in a rural economy already devastated foot-and-mouth crisis. The UK government's veto on EU proposals for stricter labelling of GM food, with the inclusion of animal feed and GM derivatives, such as vegetable oil and maize syrup, for the first time, has denied consumers and voters choice.
I urge you to set this right. I urge you as Secretary of State responsible for licensing GM crops to follow the example of Wales and declare England GM-free. You have powers as the Secretary of State for agriculture to provide legal protection for England as a GM-Free area, in line with Article 19 of 2001/18/EC. And to ensure that this legal protection is effective, I urge you get the EU labelling directive back on the EU Council agenda and adopted.
I look forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely,
etc
Susan
A timely
new report, Seeds of Doubt, published by the Soil Association, challenges
the biotech industry line that GM crops will benefit farmers. It says that
increased yields and profits and reduced agrochemical use have not materialised
for farmers in the US, one of only four countries where GM crops are grown
commercially.
The only independent research looking at the impact of genetic engineering on yields has found that they actually decrease by around 6 per cent, while agrochemical use has increased as farmers apply greater amounts of herbicide to crops that are resistant to it. Profits are being eroded as market prices decrease, because the GM 'brand' has lost its international market.
Engineered soybeans, corn and canola are estimated to have cost the US economy at least $12 billion (£8 billion) since 1999 in farm subsidies, lower crop prices, loss of major export orders and product recalls.
Also, Canada has lost its entire organic oilseed rape industry to GM contamination in a few, short years, and the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate has launched a lawsuit against the GM company responsible.
(Seeds of doubt: experiences of North American farmers of genetically
modified crops, is available from the Soil Association Mail Order
Department on 0117 929 0661, mtrowell@soilassociation.org
or from
http://www.soilassociation.org/gm
for a price of £12.)
Terry
TADESSE MESKELA from Ethiopia (the original home of coffee) is the general manager of the Orumia Coffee Farmers (OCFCU)a cooperative union. He represents 34 village cooperatives who do also sell FAIR TRADE coffee. DR. PRADEEP is the general Secretary of the Karnatake Growers Federation India
The next Bath Trade Justice Group meeting will be on Monday, Dec 2nd 7.30 pm at ENVOLVE Green Park Station . Contact 07974 910242/01225 422252
We had a good response
at our stall at Green Park Station on 2nd October asking potential rail
passengers to support FOE's campaign for fairer rail fares. We were asking
the public to respond to the Strategic Rail Authority fares consultation
which ended on 11th October..
The UK has some of the most expensive rail fares in the world and all the rules and restrictions make fares so complicated even some of the staff get confused. The SRA say that fare increases may be necessary to pay for improvements to the network. We doubt if many passengers would agree. Many European countries have cheaper fares and better run rail systems. If they can do it, so can we.
Friends of the Earth is calling for:-
1. A National off-peak rail card. National off-peak rail cards are already used in many European countries, for an annual fee of (say) £25 the user would get a discount of (say) 50% on standard rail tickets. Much of the rail network has under-used spare capacity outside peak hours. This proposal would encourage greater use of those empty seats.
2. More controls on "walk-on" fares. Although there are "book ahead" bargain fares available, many "walk-on" fares are "unregulated and have rocketed since privatisation. For example, a London to Manchester standard open return has increased by 75% since 1998 to £172.
3. A simpler fares structure that everyone can understand. Privatisation has resulted in a confusing myriad of tickets with different names and different conditions, Friends of the Earth wants to see a set of standard ticket names and conditions introduced.
At the end of the day we sent off 100 completed postcards to the SRA.
Terry
This is a nonsensical and highly destructive road scheme, which will cost 18 million pounds (at current estimates), and is being justified on the grounds that it will remove what turns out to be relatively few HGVs from Salisbury City Centre. The Harnham Relief Road follows part of the route of the Salisbury southern bypass, cancelled in 1997, and there is little doubt that a number of groups (Salisbury District Council Conservatives for example) see this as the first step in getting the full bypass they have long wanted.
It would be helpful if as many people as possible submitted objections
to this scheme. Objections, quoting planning application reference
JDD/S.02.1961, need to be sent to:
Mr Jason Day
Principal Planning Assistant - Development Control
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall, Trowbridge
BA14 8JD
Please copy also to the Secretary of State to make central government aware of the concern this scheme is causing, (The Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Transport, Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham St, LONDON SW1P 4DR)
A website has been set up at www.sinkthelink.org.uk which contains further information on the scheme, and a sample objection letter.
Terry
On 8th October B&NES
Council Executive agreed to the submission of a planning application to
the Local Planning Authority (ie itself - B&NES Council) for infilling
the mines with foam concrete, stowing in the eastern part of the mines
and structural support and marine sand infill in environmentally sensitive
areas (the horseshoe bats habitat). An Environmental Impact Assessment
and an economic evaluation have yet to be produced by B&NES for this
infill option.
The total estimated cost of the infill scheme has now risen to £60 million.
Targeted options, ie based on distinguishing different levels of hazard/risk across Combe Down, which may be more beneficial than infill in avoiding the many environmental risks and limiting resource use are not part of the planning application.
However, targetted options are being evaluated by English Partnerships in the case for Treasury funding. A full Environmental Impact Assessment covering all options will then be available and judgement of options therefore awaits this evaluation.
It is not clear whether B&NES Council will await English Partnership's evaluation before submitting a planning application for their infill option. £60 million is rather a large sum and the Treasury which holds the purse strings will determine which option the government will fund.
Terry
As part of national Energy Efficiency Week, 14--20 October 2002, the centre is contacting 130,000 homes in the region, including B&NES, with the message that energy efficiency makes sense. Householders receive a Home Energy Check questionnaire asking about energy efficiency of their property, with all questionnaires returned going into a prize draw to win A-rated appliances, a new boiler and home insulation. The mailing will be going on throughout October and December and, it is hoped, will encourage thousands of people to take some energy-saving action this winter.
Says Cleo Wilson, Energy Adviser: "This year will be our biggest and best campaign yet to get households to take some positive action to change their homes and their behaviour. In the UK, householders waste a staggering £5 billion every year. We want to get the message across that being energy efficiency simply makes sense - after all, it's energy you've paid for, so why waste it?"
An average household's fuel bills can be cut by up to £200 a year by installing some basic measures. To find out more, call the Bristol & Somerset Energy Efficiency Advice Centre on freephone 0800 512 012. All advice is completely free and impartial. The advice team can also advise about grants that are available to help pay for energy efficiency measures and can even recommend an approved installer to do the work. You can also visit the Centre for Sustainable Energy's website at www.cse.org.uk.
Chris
The key findings of all the stages of the consultation process were:
The White Paper on Energy policy is due to be published in early 2003. For more info contact the DTI Press Office, Tel: 020 7215 6407
Chris
On 2nd November Dave
and Chris carried out another successful Stop Esso
event at the London
Road Esso garage, with good Chronicle coverage of the halloween theme.
On November 16th National FOE celebrated the marriage between USA President George W Bush and Lee Raymond, Chief Executive Officer, Exxon Mobil. with a procession to the US Embassy, It was a 'double wedding' the second being between 'Corporate Greed' and the 'Anti-Environmental Republican HardRight'.
ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil company, is the most prominent of the fossil fuel corporations that were behind Bush's dumping of the Kyoto climate treaty and which continue to control his administration's criminal policy on energy, climate and the environment (see www.stopesso.com).
Exxon funds right-wing groups that actively campaign against Kyoto and
other urgently needed measures to fight climate change and protect the
global environment. The US culture of corporate greed permeates to the
highest levels. Not only has it resulted in a rash of corporate fraud cases:
it has also placed the entire global environment in danger More info :
www.campaignagainstclimatechange.net
email info@campaigncc.org
Dave
A comparison will be made of different types of services - weekly and fortnightly collections, free and charged collections for garden waste, adding cardboard to materials accepted and using wheeled bins or paper sacks. Food waste will be added to the materials accepted, when new Government regulations allow it, and a number of new service arrangements will be tested, such as alternating collections, the provision of kitchen caddies and liners and combined collections with recycling or refuse.
Trial areas include groups of roads in Bath (parts of Lansdown, Lower Weston and Odd Down), Bishop Sutton & Stowey, Midsomer Norton, Peasedown St John and Tunley. More will be added next year when food waste collections start (likely to be March-May).
Avon Friends of the Earth proposed this initiative and are managing the project in partnership with Bath & North East Somerset Council. SITA Environmental Trust has provided funding of £270,000 through the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.
The trials will run until autumn 2003 and the results of a comprehensive monitoring programme will then enable the Council to choose the best collection method for the District.
Compostable materials make up more than a third of household waste, so composting collections will make a big contribution to recycling. Also rotting organic wastes are the biggest source of pollution at landfill sites, which is avoided by composting. The potential increase in B&NES recycling rate (currently 24%) will depend on which option is adopted, but composting collections could contribute another 10-25%.
The Council has also received funding to add plastic bottles to the current green box collection system. These collections will be phased in from November this year, so by March 2003 all households will have bottles collected. In the meantime the banks at the Household Waste and Recycling Centres will enable residents to recycle plastic bottles.
New research, conducted
for the Community Recycling Network, and funded by Friends of the Earth
and Biffa award, has revealed that recycling rates of more than 60 per
cent could be achieved in the UK within 10 years by the adoption of best
practice from Europe. Mechanical and biological treatment of the residual
waste to remove cans and other materials would boost this figure to more
than 70 per cent. The UK currently only recycles 12 per cent of waste.
The research examines the best local authority recycling schemes currently operating in England, as well as best practice in Europe. The analysis also considers socio-economic factors that show that deprivation has a significant impact on participation in recycling and composting schemes.
Maximising Recycling Rates - Tackling Residuals shows that the adoption nationally of similar recycling services to those carried out by ten of the best performing local authorities would result in recycling rates of at least 30 per cent. The research also shows that it is possible that rates of 60 per cent can be achieved through increased participation, collection of new materials such as food waste, waste reduction, re-use and more recycling at civic amenity sites. These higher rates are already achieved in parts of Europe.
The report also assesses the environmental and health impacts for dealing with residual waste. Although the researchers were unable to suggest the best option for dealing with residual waste, they conclude that sending untreated waste to landfill or incineration are the worst options available.
A summary and the full version can be downloaded from: http://www.crn.org.uk/publications/research/index.html
Following this, Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to:
Andy