Posted on October 31, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Posted on October 31, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)


Update 1/11/16.
Mark,
The SumOfUs community has known for a long time that bee-killing pesticides are decimating pollinator populations. And it turns out that agro-chemical giants Syngenta and Bayer knew it too — but kept it secret from the public.
That’s right. Thanks to Freedom of Information Act requests, previously unpublished field trials commissioned by the two neonic manufacturers have been released showing that two neonic pesticides seriously harm bee colonies in high concentrations.
The studies are particularly damning because they prove that neonics don’t just harm bees at the field level, but can harm the entire colony.
Both Bayer and Syngenta have long minimized the clear impact neonic pesticides have on bees — and now we know they knew it all along.

Just recently, Syngenta claimed that none of the field tests it commissioned found that the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam — the very chemical in this study — “damages the health of bee colonies.” Yet this newly uncovered study clearly suggests otherwise.
This isn’t the first time that key research into the effects of neonics on pollinators has been suppressed. Earlier this year, under pressure from Agro-Chemical corporations, the USDA was accused of silencing concerns from its own scientists that neonics were devastating bee populations.
This silence and suppression of science that could save the bees needs to end right now. Bayer and Syngenta need to prove to us they have nothing to hide with the safety of neonic pesticides. It shouldn’t take Freedom of Information requests to do that.
The big chemical companies can’t have it both ways — if the pesticides are as safe as they like to say they are, then it should be a no-brainer to release the field data. And if in fact there are deep concerns, the public deserves to know.
More than one third of the world’s supplies relies on pollinators. Here at SumOfUs we’ve been fighting tirelessly to make sure the destruction stops now, from supporting independent field research, to supporting the legal defense of scientists who’ve been muzzled, to showing up in person at Bayer’s doorstep. And last week, we helped raised vital funds to keep this campaign going. [a]
Together we’re stopping the world’s biggest companies in their tracks as they endanger the health of pollinators, our food supply, and our environment. Now, let’s make sure that Bayer and Syngenta can’t suppress science any longer.

Thanks for all that you do,
Paul, Rosa, Toni, and the rest of the SumOfUs team
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More information:

—————————————- Update Finishes ————————–
The next few weeks are crucial to stop the nightmare merger between Bayer and Monsanto. We need to get our message to regulators right now.
Please call on EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager and Head of the antitrust Authority in the U.S. Department of Justice to stop this merger from hell.
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Mark,
In just a few weeks Bayer and Monsanto are getting ready to file their
merger with antitrust authorities in Europe and the U.S..
If they succeed, we are facing a nightmare scenario: more bee-killing
neonics in our fields, more toxic glyphosate on our plates, and more
corporate control over our food supply.
Regulators can still stop this merger, but they’re already getting
hammered by corporate lobbyists pressuring them to back off.
That’s why we need to move fast — antitrust regulators have a limited
amount of time to take action, and the clock is already ticking.

With your help and the donations of thousands of generous SumOfUs
members around the world, we have already made great strides to stop
this merger from happening.
We hired some of the world’s top legal minds to prove that the merger is
a disaster, in violation of antitrust law and simply can’t go ahead.


We’ve published the results as a legal white paper and you have tweeted
and emailed the European and US antitrust authorities in a massive public
outcry against this deal.
We made sure that everyone from the Financial Times to Bloomberg reported
on our white paper.
We’ve turned up at any public event Bayer and Monsanto are planning to
protest this merger. Hollywood star Mark Ruffalo even shared the campaign
with his followers.
But to convince the regulators to step in, it will take a massive grassroots
outcry right now.

A Bayer-Monsanto merger is not inevitable.
We have seen again and again what happens when powerful corporations get
their way. The merger wave has led to banks deemed too big to fail and only 6
big big agrochemical corporations controlling almost everything we eat.
Farmers are being squeezed too, with higher prices and fewer choices.
It sounds grim — and it is — but we know we can stop this merger.
We did the impossible in 2014 when SumOfUs members helped stop Comcast
from acquiring Time Warner in an unprecedented takeover.
It was the Department of Justice that laid the finishing blow — but it was tens
of thousands of SumOfUs members and our allies us who made it happen.
Thanks for all that you do,
Paul, Anne, Toni and the rest of the SumOfUs team

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Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, GLOBAL PETITIONS - Anything Animal, Anywhere ! | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 31, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Posted on October 31, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)




This handout image taken on November 19, 2007 shows an orangutan with an injection dart in his side – given to make him sleep before rangers relocate him to another place on Borneo island. In the middle of Borneo island, the struggle against the deforestation is lead by Yayasan Orangutan Indonesia (Yayorin) who convinces indigenous people not to sell their lands to palm oil companies, which is vital to the orangutan. At the end of 2008, more than 15,000 hectares of the community forest in Central Kalimantan have been sold for palm oil plantations threatening the livelihood of 2,500 people. (Photo credit should read AFP/AFP/Getty Images)

Mark,
Orangutans, sloths, and jaguars — Burger King’s palm oil policy is putting endangered species at risk by failing to protect invaluable tropical forests.
Despite years of public outcry, Burger King has failed to commit to a deforestation policy that protects tropical forests. These forests are destroyed to plant more soy and palm that ends up in Burger King’s supply chain.

Deforestation accounts for an incredible 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Competitors like McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts have committed to eliminating deforestation from their supply chain. It’s not only unconscionable that Burger King’s parent company Restaurant Brands International has failed to do the same — it’s just bad business.
It’s high time RBI do the same to protect tropical rainforests and the amazing wildlife they are home to.

Last year, Burger King scored a woeful 10/100 on the Union for Concerned Scientists’ palm oil scorecard.

Burger King promised to review its rainforest policy back in 2010, but has instead spent the last six years contributing to the destruction of tropical forests, adding to global warming emissions and decimating the habitats of already-threatened species.
There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers and 1,500 Borneo pygmy elephants left in the wild because of irresponsible palm oil policies. Their homes are being destroyed to make room for palm oil sold to major global brands like Burger King.
We know that when we come together, we have the power to shift even the biggest corporate players. Just last year, we pressured McDonald’s to commit to 100% sustainable palm oil by 2020. That’s why we’re now pressuring Burger King’s parent company RBI — which also owns Tim Hortons. We want RBI to know that consumers across the world are demanding it adopts a No Deforestation policy before it’s too late.

Thanks for all that you do,
Hanna, Fatah, and the team at SumOfUs
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, GLOBAL PETITIONS - Anything Animal, Anywhere !, PHOTOGRAPHS - **WARNING** (Animal Suffering), The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE | Leave a comment »