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Monsanto, Bayer and Dow face trial for 'systematic human rights abuses' Matilda Lee 16th November, 2011 Permanent Peoples' Tribunal accuses biotech giants Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont and BASF of promoting dangerous pesticides including endosulfan, paraquat and neonicotinoids The world's major agrochemical companies, Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont and BASF, will face a public tribunal in early December accused of systematic human rights violations. They are accused of violating more than 20 instruments of international human rights law through promoting reliance on the sale and use of dangerous and unsafe pesticides including endosulfan, paraquat and neonicotinoids. The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal (PPT), an international opinion tribunal created in 1979, will hear expert testimony from scientists, medical doctors and lawyers to prove the charges. Victims who have been injured by these products - from farmers, farmworkers, mothers and consumers from around the world - will also testify to the causes and nature of their injuries. The cases will be heard over a four-day trial in Bangalore, India beginning December 3. While the Tribunal has no legal weight, and cannot force sanctions on companies, it aims to expose and raise awareness of large-scale human rights violations. Pesticides Action Network (PAN) International, a global network comprised of 600 organisations in 90 countries, has spent years collecting information to bring about the indictments and is seeking justice for more than 25 specific cases - such as Silvino Talavera, an 11-year-old from Paraguay who died days after breathing in a cloud of Monsanto's RoundUp herbicide sprayed by a crop duster. The trial will also hear evidence of the link between pesticide use and a decline in bees. The corporations, known as the 'Big 6' control 74 per cent of the global pesticide market, as well as dominating the global seed market. Bayer reject the allegations saying they are a 'wholesale

Raising cattle in the feedlot industry is a constant challenge. In tough times, the return on an animal can be just a few dollars per head ECOLOGIST GREEN DIRECTORY Rathbone Greenbank "Understanding social, ethical and environmental issues is integral to Rathbone Greenbank Investments' approach..." read more More articles about food & farming | foston | industrial farming | animal welfare | nocton | smithfield food | soil association Related Articles Common infections will be 'untreatable' if antibiotic misuse continues Monsanto, Bayer and Dow face trial for 'systematic human rights abuses' The hidden costs of gold: mercury poisoning blights mining communities Durban climate change conference: is it time to forget about 2 degrees of warming? Durban climate change conference: 'Sideline the UN' says leading academic Photo Special Revealed: the secret horror of the world's 'mega' factory farms Matilda Lee 9th November, 2011 As the UK grapples with the arrival of 'mega' farms like Nocton and Foston, a shocking new book, CAFO, reveals the cruelty and vast scale of the global meat and dairy industry CAFO or 'Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation' is the acronym used to describe the industrial farming model that America has perfected and is currently exporting abroad. CAFOs have taken farming to a frightening new level of 'efficiency'. By concentrating farm animals in the smallest space possible, to gain weight as quickly as possible and at the least cost, CAFOs deny the most basic rights of an animal as a living being. Doug Tompkins, whose Foundation for Deep Ecology published the book, argues in the forward that CAFOs should be renamed for what they really are: industrial animal concentration camps. After reading this book, it's hard not to agree. Shock, horror, and disgust are just a few of the feelings you get flicking through the 450 behind-the-scenes images, but the fact is that we are all connected to CAFOs. Already the majority of animal products