| Things You Should Know | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This homepage about things people have the right to know. I'm not a serious environmentalist or anything, but any interesting articals I see in the media I will post. If you have anything you think I should post please send it to me. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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These articals are about McDonald's and Nestle . | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Whats wrong with McDonald's? McD's spend a fortune on advertisments, trying to cultivate an image of being a 'caring' and 'green' company that is a fun place to eat. Children are lured in with the promise of 'free' toys and other gimmicks. But behind the smiling face of Ronald McDonald lies the reality - McD's only interest is money, making profits from whoever and whatever they can. -STARVING THE POOR While millions of people are starving, vast areas of land in poor countries are used for cattle ranching or to grow grain to feed the animals to be eaten in the West. -DESTROYING THE EARTH The world's most beautiful forests are being destroyed at an appalling rate by multinatioal companies. McD's have at last admitted to using beef reared on ex-rainforest land, preventing the regeneration of forests. Also, the use of farmland by multinationals and their suppliers forces local people to move on to other areas and cut down further trees. McD's is the largest user of beef. Methane emitted by cattle reared for the beef industry is a major cause of the 'global warming' crisis. Every year McD's use thousands of tons of unnecessary packaging, much of which ends up littering our streets or polluting the land buried in landfill sites. -RUINING YOUR HEALTH McD's promote their food as 'healthy', but the reality is that it is high in fat, sugar and salt and low in fibre and vitamins. A diet of this type is linked with a greater risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Their food may also contain many chemical additives, some of which may cause ill health, and hyperactivity in children. Don't forget too, that meat is the cause of the majority of food poisoning incidents. In 1991 McD's were responsible for an outbreak of food poisoning in the UK, in which people suffered serious kidney failure. -MURDERING ANIMALS The menus of the burger chains are based on the torture of millions of animals. Most are intensively farmed, with no access to fresh air, sunshine, and no freedom of movement. Their deaths are barbaric - 'humane slaughter' is a myth. -EXPLOITING THEIR STAFF Workers in the burger chains are paid low wages, without being paid overtime. Pressure to keep profits high and wage costs low result in understaffing, so staff have to work harder and faster and as a consequence accidents, particularly burns, are common. The majority of employees are people with few job opportunities and so are forced to fight for a better deal, which suits McD's who have always opposed unions. -CENSORSHIP AND MCLIBEL Critism of McD's has come from a huge number of people and organisations over a wide number of issues. In the mid 1980s London Greenpeace drew together many of those strands of critism and called for an annual World Day of Action against McD's. This still takes place every year on 16th October, with pickets and demonstrations all over the world. The Campaign Against Nestle -WHY BOYCOTT NESTLE? One and a half million babies die every year because they are not breastfed, says the United Nations Children's Fund (U.N.I.C.E.F.), millions become seriously ill. Breastfeeding provides the best start in life for all babies but in a poor society it is a lifeline. Baby milk companies promote their milks to mothers and health workers because they realise that if they don't get babies on hte bottle, they don't do business. Nestle, the world's largest food company, sells half of the world's baby food. It sets marketing trends followed by other companies. The World Health Organisation and U.N.I.C.E.F. have an International Code of Marketing which bans all forms of promotion of baby milk. Nestle violates this code more often than any of it's competitors. One of Nestle's most successful marketing tactics is giving free supplies of milk to hospitals. -Giving bottles to newborns makes breastfeeding failure more likely. The baby is then dependent on artificial baby milk. -In many societies, it can cost more than half the entire family income to buy baby milk. Poor mothers may over dilute the milk to make it last longer, and this can lead to malnutrition. -In poor conditions the water mixed with the milk is often unsafe, leading to diarrhoea, dehydration and death. -WHAT DOES NESTLE SAY? Nestle now admits that free supplies are harmful but refuses to stop giving them to hospitals unless governments legislate. The company replies to boycotters with a pamphlet and a covering letter. -HOW NESTLE BREAKS THE INTERNATIONAL CODE Monitering in 80 countries between 1990 and 1992 found 100's of code violations by Nestle. These include:- ~free supplies of baby milk to hospitals in over 50 countries and sending new mothers home with a free sample, ~labels not understood by the mothers in 11 countries, including Ethiopia, Poland and Pakistan, ~giving a TV set for the best display of Nestle baby milks in Ivory Coast pharmacies, ~gifts of payment to health workers, ranging from free meals and watches to birthday presents and free trips, ~advertising whole milk powder for newborns in Malaysia, even though it is not safe for babies under 6 months. A BABY DIES EVERY 30 SECONDS FROM UNSAFE BOTTLE FEEDING. VDU's VDU is an abbreviation for 'visual display unit' - in other words the screen of a computer or word processor. Many sureys have been carried out to see if VDU's are harmful to their operaters (you and me), and the results are disturbing. -VDU screens emit low level radiation. If you switch your screen off in a dark room, you will see a fluorescent glow which lingers for some time after the screen has been turned off. -VDUs also emit 'soft' x-rays and, while the machines are designed so that the screen filters them out, old or faulty models let them through. -It has been found that VDU operaters around the world have a higher rate of miscarriages and abnormal births than women who don't use VDUs. This is thought to be due to the fluctuating electromagnetic field the screens emit. Eyestrain, headaches, blurred vision, skin rashes, itching and back pain have all been associated with VDUs. -Strain on the wrists and fingers caused by too much repetitive typing can lead to diseases liketenosynovitis and tendinitis. WHAT CAN YOU DO? -When working at a computer, take frequent breaks if you can. Once an hour, get up from the desk and walk around. -Try to make sure your VDU is set so that light does not reflect off it. -Invest in a shield or filter for your VDU. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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