Blog Categories: consumers

More than 30 Grassroots Movements and NGOs Form an Alliance Against Factory Farming in Spain

Madrid—Last weekend, the second national meeting of Spanish communities against factory farming took place in Minglanilla (Cuenca), involving more than 20 grassroots movements from affected areas all over the country and ten national and international organisations.

The organisation of a national coordination against factory farming started last year to face the dramatic and uncontrolled increase of factory farms in Spain. Its aim is to coordinate movements and organisations opposing this industry.

“The second national meeting ‘Stop Factory Farmin’’ has been a clear success. Many movements from affected regions were represented, with loads of energy to campaign against the hundreds of new factory farm projects that could turn our rural areas into real dung-hills,” said Inma Lozano, spokesperson of the National Alliance Stop Factory Farming. “Factory farming has severe impacts on the environment, public health, rural economies and animal welfare and we need to stop it as soon as possible,” she added.

The National Coordination supports the mobilizations against factory farming that will happen in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) on Thursday 31st of May, organised by the regional platforms.

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The Spanish National Coordination against Factory Farming (Coordinadora Estatal Stop Ganadería Industrial) includes local movements from Andalusia (Stop Cerdos Intensivos en el Altiplano de Granada y Almería), Aragon (Plataforma Loporzano SIN Ganadería Intensiva), Castille-La Mancha (ADERA – Asociación para la Economía Responsable de Almendros, Asociación ecologista Serendipia, CLM Stop Macrogranjas, Coordinadora Acuífero 23 sin macrogranjas, El Horcajo Plataforma Cívica- Lucillos, Plataforma Cívica de Gamonal, Plataforma no a la macrogranja en Pozuelo y Argamasón, Plataforma Retamoso Sostenible – Stop Macrogranjas, Pueblos Vivos Cuenca, Pueblos Vivos/Stop Macrogranjas de Cañete, Pueblos Vivos/Stop Macrogranjas de Priego, Stop Macrogranjas Alpera y Ayora, Stop macrogranjas Comarca de Molina de Aragón), Castille and Leon (Plataforma Pueblos unidos de Tábara) and Murcia (Plataforma Ciudadana Salvemos el Arabí y Comarca); and national and international NGO (Friends of the Earth Spain, Compassion in World Farming, Ecologistas en Acción, Food & Water Europe, Greenpeace and Justicia Alimentaria).

Block Bayer-Monsanto Merger, Says Major New Legal Study

Friends of the Earth Europe, WeMove.EU, Food & Water Europe, SumOfUs

For immediate release: Monday October 16

Brussels, October 16 – The proposed merger between Bayer and Monsanto should be blocked under EU competition law, according to a major new study from University College London to be released on World Food Day.

The authors of the report claim that the European Commission should be obliged to block the merger – which is currently under an in-depth investigation from the European Commission – even on a narrow reading of EU competition law.

The analysis concludes that the “Baysanto” merger should be blocked as:

  • It would reduce competition: It concentrates even further an already tightly-packed agriculture sector. Just three mega-companies (ChemChina-Syngenta, DuPont-Dow and Bayer-Monsanto) would own and sell about 64% of the world’s pesticides, and 60% of the world’s patented seeds.
  • It would raise prices and farmer dependency: One-stop inclusive packages of all services needed for agriculture (seeds, pesticides, and also “digital farming” products) would lock farmers into the company’s value chain, making them technologically dependent and facing price hikes in seeds and pesticides.
  • Asset selling won’t solve the crisis: Even if the Commission forces the companies to sell off some products the market is already so concentrated that divesting particular products will not address the merger’s negative effects on future competition in the seeds markets.
  • It would stifle alternative businesses: The three mega-corporations controlling the global food value chain would “entrench the market power of the dominant players for the decades to come”, thereby freezing more sustainable forms of agriculture

The academics also call on the European Commission to broaden its investigation of the merger to take into account the full social and environmental costs, as they are likely to “lead to important risks for food security and safety, biodiversity… [and risks for] affordable food prices, high quality of food, variety and innovation”.

Adrian Bebb, food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said: “EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager has more than enough arguments to block the unholy alliance of Bayer and Monsanto, and send a strong signal that the EU is prepared to stand up to these mega-corporations in order to protect farmers, citizens and our environment.

“The consolidation taking place between these agriculture giants would have major impacts on the future of our countryside, rural livelihoods and our environment. It is vital that the European Commission widens its investigation to ensure that we retain the possibility to move agriculture onto a sustainable and resilient footing to help counter climate change and halt biodiversity loss.”

Earlier this year over 200 civil society organisations called on European Competition Commissioner Vestager to stop the current wave of mergers in the agri-business sector. Almost 900,000 citizens have signed petitions calling for the Commission to act.

 

 

 

 

European Parliament Makes Strong Call to Implement Human Right to Water; Commission Should Listen

Today, the Plenary of the European Parliament approved the report on the European Citizen’s Initiative – Right to Water [1], as a result of a grassroots campaign that gathered nearly two million signatures from across Europe. The European Parliament called on the Commission to come forward with legislative proposals to make the human right to water and sanitation a reality. A majority of the Members of the European Parliament endorsed water as a public good, vital to human life and dignity, which should not be treated as a commodity.

“The European Commission cannot keep on ignoring the demands from nearly two million citizens, the European Parliament, the European Social and the Economic Committee for the implementation of a human right already recognized by the UN,” said David Sánchez, campaigns officer at Food & Water Europe. “Continued inaction would just result in a great loss of credibility for the European institutions.”

The report also demanded the European Commission to abstain from pushing for water privatization in the context of austerity measures in countries like Greece, and called on the Commission to permanently exclude water, sanitation and wastewater disposal from internal market rules and from trade agreements.

“Today’s vote marked a great victory for citizens. Now is the time for the European Commission to finally react,” added Sánchez.

Contact: David Sánchez, Campaigns officer, Food & Water Europe, +32 (0) 2893 1045 (land), +32 (0) 485 842 604 (mobile), dsanchez(at)fweurope.org [1] http://right2water.eu/

European Parliament Committee Supports the Human Right to Water

Brussels – The Committee on the Environment of the European Parliament voted today on a report about the European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation, as a result of a campaign that gathered nearly two million signatures from across Europe. Members of the European Parliament confirmed their strong support for the human right to water.

“European citizens have time and again spoken out in favour of water as a human right and a common good. Whenever asked, they have massively supported public water management,” said David Sánchez, Campaigns Officer at Food & Water Europe. “MEPs in the Committee on Environment are asking the European Commission to act accordingly. We expect the Parliament’s Plenary vote in September to confirm this result and the Commission to finally listen to EU citizens.”

By approving all the compromise amendments, the Committee: 

  • Considers it regrettable that the European Commission’s answer to the ECI lacked any real ambition and calls on the Commission to come forward with legislative proposals to make the human right to water a reality.
  • Considers that water is a public good, vital to human life and dignity, and should not be treated as a commodity.
  •  Rejects water cut-offs and the forced switching-off of the water supply as a violation of human rights. 
  • Expresses its concern about countries like Spain, Portugal, Greece or Ireland, where water services are still being privatized and calls the European Commission not to push for water privatization in the context of austerity measures.
  • Notes the growing trend of remunicipalization of water services around Europe.
  • Calls on the Commission to permanently exclude water, sanitation and wastewater disposal from internal market rules. – Considers it imperative that production, distribution and treatment of water and sanitation are excluded from any trade agreements, including TTIP and TISA.
  • Highlights the importance of public-public partnerships as a non-profit model of cooperation among water operators.
  • Demands that EU development policies should fully integrate universal access to water and sanitation based on not-for-profit principles and solidarity.
  • Insists that water, sanitation and hygiene in developing countries should be given high priority and water should be also be a priority in the Sustainable Development Goals and the COP21.

Contact: David Sánchez, Campaigns officer, Food & Water Europe, +32 (0) 2893 1045 (land), +32 (0) 485 842 604 (mobile), dsanchez(at)fweurope.org F

New Report: For-Profit Animal Science Undermines Safe Food, Trade

Brussels and Washington, D.C.— A new report (.pdf) published today by Food & Water Europe exposes the enormous influence that corporate drug companies play in the peer-reviewed science surrounding risky veterinary drugs widely used in the United States but forbidden in the EU. The U.S. approach of allowing the marketplace to determine the safety of risky veterinary drugs rather than independent science—as was the case with the beef cattle growth-promoter Zilmax, which was removed from the U.S. market in 2013—makes any move toward regulatory “harmony” via an EU-U.S. trade agreement a serious threat to safety of the EU food system.

Food & Water Europe EU Food Policy Analyst Eve Mitchell said, “It’s clear that some favourable safety findings on the drugs widely used to produce food are effectively bought and paid for by the companies that stand to profit. The cornerstones of the scientific method, like independent replication of findings, simply aren’t being honoured, and many U.S. farmers are giving their animals questionable drugs every day because of it. This is not the kind of food production we want or need, yet a trans-Atlantic trade deal will reinforce these safety problems for everyone.”

The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a vast trade deal under negotiation between the U.S. and EU. Highly controversial topics like genetically modified (GM) food and hormone treatments in meat animals have all but stalled progress of TTIP, which was supposed to conclude negotiations later this year. “Governments on both sides insist neither regulatory system will be eroded by TTIP and that food safety will continue to be guaranteed, but today’s report shows safety isn’t even clear now,” says Mitchell.

A major problem is with the scientific journals that publish the studies. Industry groups play an enormous role in the production of scientific literature, authoring journal articles, funding academic research and also serving as editors, sponsors or directors of the same scientific journals where much of their research is published.

Mitchell said, “It’s not just a matter of EU and U.S. regulators agreeing that their counterparts consulted the science and concluded drugs are safe when that science is comprised. Now, consumers on both sides of the Atlantic are being asked to place our faith in “harmonised’ approval systems.”

“This report documents the problems in animal science research, but the same weak disclosure rules, industry influence and lack of independent research appears to pervade much of agricultural research, from GMOs to cloning to herbicides. It’s huge.”

Mitchell added, “There’s a lot of talk about ‘free trade” out there, especially when in comes to TTIP, but it’s full of holes. To function properly, genuinely free markets rely on complete information available to all, and this report shows how deep the disclosure problem goes. The EU is not immune to these problems.”

Food & Water Europe calls on scientific journals to disclose the funding sources for papers they publish and says the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) also needs to do more to ensure the research it uses to determine the safety of products in the food chain has been thoroughly and independently assessed.

Mitchell concluded, “The merits of EFSA’s ongoing project on openness and transparency will be called into question unless it does more to ensure it is not relying on for-profit science. EFSA should publish the authorship affiliations and funding sources of the science it consults. Some large portion of the science EFSA consults is likely to have been biased by industry authorship and funding, but the public can’t see where this happens. This has to change.”

Read For Profit Animal Science Undermines Safe Food Trade: http://www.foodandwatereurope.org/reports/corporate-control-in-animal-science-research/.

Contact: Eve Mitchell, Food & Water Europe (UK time), +44(0)1381 610 740, [email protected]


The Urgent Case for a Ban on Fracking

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Learn more in the report.

DOWNLOAD PDF VIEW ON SCRIBD

“In many ways, fracking is the environmental issue of our time.

“It’s an issue that touches on every aspect of our lives — the water we drink, the air we breathe, the health of our communities — and it is also impacting the global climate on which we all depend.

“It pits the largest corporate interests — big oil and gas companies and the political leaders who support them — against people and the environment in a long-term struggle for survival.

“It is an issue that has captivated the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of people across the United States, Europe and across the globe. And it is an area in which, despite the massive resources of the Frackopoly — the cabal of oil and gas interests promoting this practice — we as a movement are making tremendous strides as our collective power continues to grow. As this report lays out, there is mounting evidence that fracking is inherently unsafe.

“Evidence builds that fracking contaminates water, pollutes air, threatens public health, causes earthquakes, harms local economies and decreases property values.

“We first made the case for a ban on fracking in 2011, but this report shows that there is an urgent case for a ban. The evidence is in, and it is clear and overwhelming. Fracking is inherently unsafe, cannot be regulated and should be banned. Instead, we should transition aggressively to a renewable and efficient energy system.” — Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Europe