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URGENT ACTION: EU vote to reform GM approval procedures

From GM Freeze -

On 4 December we expect there to be an EU-level vote by EU Environment Ministers on a package of reforms of Europe's approach to GM assessment procedures. This is a good opportunity for us to renew calls to the normally pro-GM UK Government to change its approach.

Below is a copy of a letter you can send to Defra Head Hilary Benn. It contains demands in line with those being made by others across Europe. Please can you cut and paste this letter, or write your own, and send it to Mr Benn as soon as possible.

Letters, emails and questions are now handled by something called the 'Customer Contact Unit' at Defra, and reaching Benn directly may provide difficult as some Ministries now avoid providing information that permits us to contact our elected representatives. For this reason it would be best to send a hard copy letter to:

RH Hilary Benn
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Defra
Nobel House
Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR

You can try the email address *hilary.benn@defra.gsi.gov.uk* if you like, or the Defra Customer Contact Unit ***helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk*.

The important thing is to send the messages, as even if he doesn't see them personally, Mr Benn will surely be told that letters are coming in.

If you live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, it would be a good idea to copy your letter to your own MP and note your support for the Devolved Administrations' efforts to halt the spread of GMOs in the UK.

Many thanks for your efforts, and please let me know if you receive any replies.

***copy of letter to send***

Dear Secretary of State,

I respectfully urge you to vote along the following lines at the meeting of EU Environment Ministers on 4 December:

1) Monsanto GM maize MON810, NK603 and the hybrid NK603 x MON810 should be recalled immediately. The study published by the Austrian government on 11 November identified serious damage to reproductive health of mice by GMOs. This study needs urgent attention, repetition and peer reveiw as it gives further indication of how little we understand the long-term impacts of GMOs, as well as highlighting clearly the flaws of the EU assessment process.

2) European GMO risk assessment must be strengthened, as required under EU law, to uphold the precautionary principle and protect our food, agriculture and environment from the unnecessary risks posed by GMOs.

3) The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) must be reformed by giving it the necessary scientific expertise to carry out complex environmental and health risk assessments. It is routinely failing us as citizens and this must be addressed. The study on mice noted above is not the first study indicating that there is a threat posed by GMOs, yet EFSA's response is wholly inadequate as it results in approval of GMOs rather than studies into their effects.

4) GM contamination of seeds must be prevented, to allow us to exercise our right to choose non-GM food, the survival of which is fundamentally threatened by GMOs. The exposure of GM contamination of maize landraces in Mexico, a country that does not permit GM maize, is an excellent example of the dangers we need your help to avoid.

5) Each EU member state should retain control over its national territory and decide for itself, after consultation with the public and all appropriate authorities, on the use of its land by establishing GMO-free areas.

6) Until these measures are in place, no GMOs should be granted authorisation nor should our policy of zero tolerance of unapproved GMOs be relaxed.

As you know, there are a variety of non-transgenic agricultural technologies available TODAY that can help improve crops, feed the world and improve nutrition for us all. I am no longer satisfied to have my Government spend billions of pounds pursuing a technology of questionable safety and efficacy while disregarding these. The Austrian study gives another good, solid reason for the UK Government to review its position and adopt one of more care.

I look forward to reviewing your vote after the meeting.

Sincerely,

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Coordinator - GM Freeze
tel: 0845 217 8992 If you can donate to our campaign or wish to join us, please visit:  GM Freeze 

 Generating the Renewable Energy of Hope - The Earth Charter Guide to Religion and Climate Change 

anti-fur campaign against the fashion chain MaxMara

A new international anti-fur campaign against the fashion chain MaxMara has just been launched today by the Italian group AIP (Smash the Fur Trade). In recent years the international anti-fur movement has had some excellent results persuading large international companies to go fur-free by co-ordinating campaigns in many different countries.

As always CAFT will be taking part in the MaxMara campaign with protests in the UK. We will be protesting at the head office in London this Friday 14th (following on from the Norwegian embassy protest nearby), and the following weekend, November 21-23, we will be taking part in the first international days of action.

More details to come, or email back if you want to know more, but in the meantime, please read the short text below, and use the details to contact MaxMara and ask them to adopt a fur free policy. Remember the fur industry is a ruthless, multinational business, only by working together with other activists throughout the world can we hope to fight back for the animals.

Text from the website:  maxmara campaign website  All over the world campaigning networks and organizations are fighting to make designers and clothing companies "fur-free". We think it is time to ask the same ethical stand of Max Mara Fashion Group, owners of world renowned brands like Max Mara, Max and Co, and many more like Maxsport, Marina Rinaldi, Marella, Pennyblack, Newpenny, Persona, Iblues. In Italy Campagna AIP managed to make fur-free all department stores and some clothing companies like Stefanel, Diesel, Miss Sixty and Belstaff. Department stores like La Rinascente, Upim, Coin and Oviesse, have a big portion of the italian clothing retail and some of them have concessions of the most important designers and fashion companies inside their stores, forced too not to sell any fur products.

The Max Mara campaign is similar to those waged at department stores, or similar to the internationally coordinated campaigns that have made important fashion companies like Zara, Guess and Stefanel fur-free. The campaign is based on regular demos, communication with Max Mara's customers and a spreading boycott.

With their 2000 shops all around the world Max Mara Fashion Group is one of the biggest retail companies worldwide. Among their brands the most known and widespread are Max Mara and Max and Co. This is a campaign with international support and demos in front of Max Mara stores in different countries.

You can find reports, events and more updates (in italian) at:  here 

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

* First of all do not buy any fur and boycott all Max Mara Fashion Group brands' stores untill they will not be fur-free. Talk about this campaign to anybody you know and spread the message.
* Contact the company and tell them what you think. You can either send them a letter, a fax, an e-mail or make a phone call. Each of these communications could be a lost customer for them, do not underestimate its impact. You can find all their contact details here
* Spread the campaign by distributing leaflets. You can find pdf leaflets in different languages in our resources section. Fell free to download and copy it.
* Organize demos or leaflettings at your local Max Mara or Max and Co shop.

Contact us at info@campagnaaip.net for more infos.

* You can contact the company at this address: (UK addresses below) MAXMARA FASHION GROUP Via Giulia Maramotti, 4, 42100 Reggio Emilia (RE) Tel:0039-522-3991 Fax: 0039-522-3993993

Head of Press Office - Magnolia Laurenzi laurenzi.m@maxmara.it

Public Relations - Larisa Fasi proffice@maxmara.it fasi.l@maxmara.it

Public Relations - Giorgio Guidotti guidotti.g@mmfg.it

More E-Mails: info@maxandco.com franchisingita@maxandco.com franchisingexp@maxandco.com info@marella.it otb.iblues@marella.it

All e-mails to cut and paste: guidotti.g@mmfg.it, info@maxandco.com, franchisingita@maxandco.com, franchisingexp@maxandco.com, info@marella.it, otb.iblues@marella.it, laurenzi.m@maxmara.it, proffice@maxmara.it, fasi.l@maxmara.it, guidotti.g@mmfg.it

Maxmara Ltd in the UK (No email addresses yet, please email MaxMara head offices in Italy, see above)

Head Office: Melrose House 4-6 Savile Row, London, W1S 3PD

Stores MaxMara Ltd 5, Albemarle St, London, W1S 4HF Tel: 020 7518 8010

MaxMara Ltd 19-21, Old Bond St, London, W1S 4PX Tel: 020 7499 7902

Max Mara 37, High St, Wimbledon, London, SW19 5BY Tel: 020 8944 1494

Max Mara 32, Hill St, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1TW Tel: 020 8332 2811

Maxmara Ltd Bicester Village, Pingle Drive, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX26 6WD Tel: 01869 354928

Marina Rinaldi 5, Multrees Walk, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH1 3DQ Tel: 0131 557 6676 Fax: 0131 558 1232 Marina Rinaldi 2, Lislea Avenue, Belfast, County Antrim BT9 7HQ Tel: 028 9066 2990 Marina Rinaldi 39, Old Bond St, London, W1S 4QP Tel: 020 7629 4454 Sample letter:

To the attention of Max Mara Fashion Group,
I send this message to show my support for the campaign against the presence of fur trims and fur jackets in the collections of Max Mara and the other brands of your company.

As you may be aware every year dozens of millions animals are raised in small cages and awful conditions to be skinned and transform their pelts into trims, hats or jackets sold in shops and collections like yours.

There is a growing number of companies and designers refusing to use real fur and i think the same decision is a choice that also Max Mara Fashion Group should consider, to create a fashion free of this appalling cruelty.

Until i see this ethical decision i will take part in the boycott of all your brands products and shops and will invite all the people i know to do the same.

Coalfinger - a new supervillain

Take Action - Help expose Coalfinger and his carbon cronies to the world - tell your friends!

 greenpeace website 

Just in time for the latest Bond film, we've unleashed our own special agent on the world. Graverson Green is on a mission: to expose the dastardly plot of supervillain Coalfinger and his carbon cronies, who plan to cover the world in coal-fired power stations and destroy the climate in Operation Browncloud.

Along with his dopey sidekick Dr. Anthracite, Coalfinger (played by Brian Blessed) plans to cover the world in coal-fired power stations and destroy the climate. Can Green (David Mitchell) stop him? Is a top secret hideout involved? Are there plenty of double entendres?

 Watch the film to find out 

It may be an animation, but I’m sure you recognise the inspiration for the film. Like Coalfinger, E.on and other energy companies around the world are trying to bring about a coal resurgence, despite the evidence of the impact burning coal has on our climate and our planet. Green on the other hand, reminds us that we need to work together to stop dirty coal plants and fight for clean and renewable energy.

We – with the very substantial help of TellyJuice, Blue Zoo, Brian Blessed, David Mitchell, David Arnold and BiroCreative – made Coalfinger so we could get the word out to an ever wider audience, helping the campaign against new coal ahead of the government’s decision on Kingsnorth.

You can help us expose the coal villains. Please share Coalfinger with your friends.

Thank you for watching, and supporting our campaign for a healthy planet.

Soil Association Food Campaign

 see pdf for details 

Ecoveganism

For far too long, those that campaign on environmental matters have ignored the critical issue of animal agriculture, but that situation is swiftly changing!

We predict that in years to come, the 8th December 2007 (the date of the first ever Veg*n Climate March) will be seen as the dawn of a new, more enlightened environmental movement.

This new movement will fully embrace plant based diets as the solution to many of the catastrophes facing the planet. For anyone who really cares about the environment, the consumption of animal carcasses will become a distant memory and the natural progression from this will be veganism.

The Campaign for Eco-Veg*nism aims to be the catalyst for this environmental revolution! Last year, we made history by staging the world`s first ever Veg*n Climate March and we`ll continue to make history in London on Saturday 6th December 2008. Be there and be part of history!!

The Campaign for Eco-Veg*nism

Because our choice of diet is critical to the survival of the planet

 Ecoveggie website