| FRANCE: McDonald's Foe Jose Bové Back in Court Agence France Presse February 15th, 2001 Jose Bové, French peasants' champion and hero of the international anti-globalism movement, was due back in court Thursday on trial for his part in the dismantling of a McDonald's restaurant. |
| USA: Going Bananas by Michael Jessen, AlterNet February 6th, 2001 With a history tied to colonial exploitation, union busting, presidential influence peddling, and environmental degradation, it's obvious the banana is much more than a topping for breakfast cereal or a nutritious snack food. The banana has been at the center of a controversial World Trade Organization ruling and just last month the world's top banana producer (Chiquita Brands International) appeared to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy even as it filed a half-billion dollar lawsuit against the European Union. |
| CHINA: Government Refusal to Cut Aid to Farmers Blocks Bid to Join WTO Bloomberg News January 16th, 2001 China won't sacrifice income support for farmers in talks this week to join the World Trade Organization, officials and analysts said yesterday. |
| USA: Ten Worst Corporations of 2000 by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, Focus on the Corporation January 3rd, 2001 Here is the annual Top 10 Worst Corporations of 2000 list compiled by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman. This year, rushing to the head of the pack of irresponsible biotech companies was the French corporation Aventis, the maker of Cry9C corn, sold under the name StarLink. |
| USA: Combination of Pesticides Linked to Parkinson's Disease by Cat Lazaroff, Environment News Service January 3rd, 2001 A combination of two widely used agricultural pesticides - but neither one alone - creates in mice the exact pattern of brain damage that doctors see in patients with Parkinson's disease. The research offers the most compelling evidence yet that everyday environmental factors may play a role in the development of the disease. |
| South Africa: New Treaty Bans Top 12 Toxic Chemicals Environment News Service December 11th, 2000 After a week of deliberations to ban the world's most toxic chemicals, delegates have reached an agreement, which ''constitutes a declaration of war on persistent organic pollutants,'' said conference chairman John Buccini. |
| India: ''Green Revolution'' Bad News for Poor Laborers by Bharat Dogra, Inter Press Service November 22nd, 2000 Sikri Kalan is a ''Green Revolution'' village. The term is derived from India's three-decade-old farming revolution, which was ushered in by high-yielding wheat crops that helped make the country self-reliant in food. |
| USA: United Farm Workers Call Off Grape Boycott by Brian Melley, Associated Press November 21st, 2000 In time for Thanksgiving, the United Farm Workers union ended its 16-year ''Wrath of Grapes'' boycott Tuesday -- halting the longest of its three California table grape boycotts. |
| Colombia: Monsanto, US War on Drugs Poison Environment by Brian Hansen, Environment News Service November 20th, 2000 The aerial fumigation program that has grown out of the U.S. government's so-called ''war on drugs'' is endangering the fragile ecosystems and indigenous cultures of Colombia's Amazon Basin, a coalition of groups warned today at a news conference on Capitol Hill. |
| Europe: Biotechnology Mega-Merger by Jaya Ramachandran, Inter Press Service October 17th, 2000 The merger of two biotech corporations - the Swiss Novartis and British AstraZeneca - to create the world's biggest agribusiness is alarming some of Europe's largest development agencies. |
| UK: Aventis Admits Growing Unauthorized GM Seed Environment News Service October 10th, 2000 Biotechnology company Aventis admitted Monday that it had grown genetically modified sugar beet without permission at two trial sites in the United Kingdom. |
| Europe: Biotech Congress Cancelled Corporate Europe Observer October 1st, 2000 EuropaBio, the European biotech lobby group, has recently suffered a major blow when it had to cancel its annual congress. The Fourth Annual European Biotechnology Congress was scheduled to take place in Edinburgh, Scotland on October 9-13. According to the Dutch daily newspaper, De Volkskrant, EuropaBio, ''cannot deny that the conference was cancelled due to the fierce critique of genetic engineering in the UK and the resulting lack of sponsors.'' |
| Nicaragua: Banana Workers May Sue International Firms Reuters September 27th, 2000 DBCP, or dibromochloropropane, is one of the pesticides used on Nicaragua's banana plantations in the 1970s. Workers say it has affected 22,000 people, directly or indirectly, and that DBCP-related illnesses have already killed at least 83 of their comrades. |
| JAPAN: Snow Brand Inc. Merges with Nestle After Food-Poisoning Outbreak Agence France Presse September 26th, 2000 The dairy company at the centre of Japan's biggest ever food-poisoning outbreak said Tuesday it was tying up with Swiss giant Nestle, as it unveiled big job cuts in a bid to repair the financial damage. |
| India: Farmers Urge 10-Year Moratorium on GM Agriculture Agence France Presse September 25th, 2000 A tribunal formed by more than 25 farmers groups in India called Monday for a 10-year national moratorium on the commercial use of genetic engineering in agriculture. |
| CHINA: McDonald's Fires Underage Workers Associated Press September 4th, 2000 Scores of underage workers hired in a mainland China factory that makes toys for McDonald's were fired following recent media reports about the situation, a Hong Kong labor-monitoring group said Monday. |
| US: McDonald's Uses Sweatshop Associated Press August 27th, 2000 Snoopy, Winnie the Pooh and Hello Kitty toys sold with McDonald's meals in Hong Kong are made at a mainland Chinese sweatshop that illegally employs child laborers to package the toys, a newspaper reported Sunday. |
| UK: GMO Crop Testing Approved Environment News Service August 24th, 2000 Unperturbed by threats of legal action from environmental groups, the UK's agriculture ministry announced Wednesday that it will allow genetically modified (GM) crop trials to go ahead this fall. |
| Canada: Sweet-Scented Pesticide 'Sugarcoats a Toxic Pill' by Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen August 20th, 2000 An association that represents Ontario lawn-care companies is selling cherry and bubble-gum flavoured scents to mask the smell of toxic pesticides. |
| USA: Novartis Phasing Out Genetically Engineered Foods by Neville Judd, Environment News Service August 4th, 2000 Novartis, one of the world's leading producers of genetically engineered seeds, has been phasing out genetically engineered ingredients in its food products worldwide for over a year. |