Posted on August 28, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Dear Mark,
I also got the news that for the moment the merger Bayer / Monsanto was put on hold.
This is certainly a success, but far from the end of the story. The situation looks like this: the four major conglomerates Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont and Bayer control roughly 70 percent of world trade with agricultural raw materials. If the merger Bayer / Monsanto were to be achieved, three companies would determine more than 60 percent of the global market for seeds and pesticides: Bayer / Monsanto, DuPont / Dow and ChemChina / Syngenta (The merger of the two last couples has already been approved).
With the help of the EU, they want to contain and patent seed and food diversity to a manageable extent. Stubbornly, the corporations are working on a law that cements their power: the European Seed Regulation. Under this Regulation, no more seed which has not been tested, certified and registered may be passed on. Worse still, the offspring of these crosses are particularly productive, but only in the first generation and as seed unusable. Seed must therefore be purchased from the breeder every year.
The four major players in the agricultural industry will determine the market for seeds, pesticides, fertilizers and feed. An unimaginable power concentration, which is completely foreign to the interest in plants, animals, human life.
Until now, the population and politicians in Austria, and German environmental associations, have been fighting against this dictum of the giants. New petitions have been launched, which is necessary, because the negotiations are not yet finished.
The EU has already offered the first compromise, we have seen it.
But the letter from the deputy Vestager makes it clear that the provisional postponement of the Bayer / Monsanto merger has not been decided on “Risks for human health, food safety, consumer protection, the environment and the climate“, but “is limited to competition (Merger assessment): concerns about potential negative effects of the merger on consumers and farmers”.
Within 90 days, the EU Commission will make its final decision after “the antitrust law” tests have been completed. We need to mobilize further, not just pushing Vestager, but also the other EU bodies and local politicians.
I have therefore attached (link below) a new petition from the Umweltinstitut Deutschland.
It goes to Mrs Vestager, to the German Minister for Economic Affairs, Brigitte Zypries, and to the President of the Bundeskartellamt Mundt. It already has 34,000 signatures, but we still need many more.
And we must continue to think positively and, above all, remain alert and informed.
When it comes to animal rights Egypt is renowned globally for a less than promising record.
Horses and camels play an important part in Egypt’s tourism, many families depend on them for their survival, still these working animals are being mistreated.
Animals such as cart and riding horses and camels are being brutally beaten, neglected and whipped as they cart loads of tourists around the pyramids. They are forced to work in the extreme heat without shelter, food or water supply for 20 hours every day and facing a long agonizing life.
They have medical diseases and conditions and obvious, untreated giant flesh wounds (see photo above) under their saddles and still being ridden. Undoubtedly, they demonstrate distress and are worked or starved to death.
This area is „Hell on Earth” for carriage horses and camels. This horror must be stopped now.
Stopping the misery would surely benefit not only the working animals in Giza but would raise awareness of the importance of animal rights as a topic in Egypt in general.
Posted on August 18, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
From ‘Free Tibet’ – London.
Imagine being snatched from the street or even your home. You are loaded into a police car and driven to an unknown location. Your friends, colleagues and family don’t know where you are. Nor do you. It is like you have disappeared from the face of the earth.
Enforced disappearances are designed to punish Tibetans who resist or fall foul of the occupation, and to scare other Tibetans away from opposing the occupation or freely expressing their culture. Today Free Tibet is launching our new In The Dark campaign by highlighting six of these enforced disappearances. For each, we have listed some important strategic actions that you can complete online right now, in order to pressure the authorities into releasing them.
Click below to learn about their cases and see how you can help.
These six prisoners are just the first stage of our new campaign to bring public attention to this cruel and oppressive practice. To learn more about enforced disappearances, Tibet’s hidden prisoners and our campaign, visit our website. The Chinese authorities want to hide these prisoners from the world. We are determined to find them, shine a light on their cases and push for their release. We hope that you will join us in making a stand for Tibet’s hidden prisoners.
Every year millions of animals around the world endure horrific suffering as a result of the long distance live transport trade.
On the 13th September we are organising a rally in central London as part of Stop Live Transport International Awareness Day. A global day of action to speak out on behalf of the animals that cannot speak for themselves.
In the UK, for decades politicians have said that it is EU law that prevents a ban on live exports. As we are now leaving the EU, this argument no longer stands.
They are out of excuses and we need to make sure that they know we expect action. Confirmation of the London rally’s exact location will follow in due course, but I wanted to get in touch with you now, so that you could save the date.
Can’t make it to London? Why not attend a local Stop Live Transport event, or even organise your own? Check out the events already planned – from Edinburgh to Tel Aviv, from Dublin to Warsaw – at stoplivetransport.org
Together we will demonstrate global opposition to this abhorrent trade and expose the ugly truth:
– Excessively long journeys without sufficient food, water or rest
– Animals being transported when sick, injured, very young or heavily pregnant
– Ill-equipped and overcrowded vehicles
– Exports from countries with animal protection laws to those that have none, with animals often facing terrible abuse both during transport and at the time of slaughter.
I hope that you can join us on the 13th September to use your voice for those who are voiceless. Even if you cannot be there in person, you can still get involved in the Stop Live Transport International Awareness Day in many other ways.
Dear friends, They were burnt alive — 20,000 pigs packed into tiny pens with nowhere to run.
But his farms were hell long before that:
sick piglets beaten to death,
extreme overcrowding,
animals left suffering with broken bones and protruding organs.
Dutch farmer Adriaan Straathof has a gruesome reputation and Germany has already banned his farming.
Now other EU countries must do the same.
The farmer hopes to just carry on, but if we make this huge, we can force a whole new level of scrutiny, and get regulators to suspend his permits while all his farms are urgently investigated.
To local, regional, national, and European regulators: “As citizens outraged but the incredible suffering of animals on farms owned by Adriaan Straathof, we urge you to take advantage of all possibilities offered by local, regional, national, and European laws to withdraw his farming permits, ensuring he is unable to farm or keep any livestock or other animals. We also urge you to pass stricter fire and animal welfare regulation to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Straathof is one of the biggest pig farmers in the EU, with 6 mega farms in the Netherlands and a string of others in Hungary and Germany. And while the Dutch food safety authority has inspected his farms 14 times, and reports of abuse, fines, and violations are piling up, he’s just got a permit to farm another 11,000 pigs!
Enough — this isn’t farming, it’s industrial torture!
Together we can make sure that these were his last victims. Let’s create a massive public appeal, forcing regulators to intervene and stop the next bloodbath:Sign with one click: No More Torture Farms
Our movement has been on the frontline of fighting violence against animals, from China’s dog meat festival, to the cruel trade in horse blood. We know that when we come together in massive numbers to protect animals, incredible things can happen — and this time will be no different.
With hope and determination, Mike, Anneke, Luca, Danny and the entire Avaaz team
Well done everybody who supported and took action on this campaign – you have achieved a positive result to dramatically help horses – but now further action is required to STOP other organisations stepping in and taking over on your victory congratulations on the MSD action ! – SAV.
Mark,
You did it!
After years of investigative work by the Animal Welfare Foundation, its partners in Uruguay, and hundreds of thousands of SumOfUs members like you taking action, Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) has cut all ties with horse blood farms in South America!
Thank you for campaigning against this sickening business. And thank you for not shying away from confronting the biggest and most powerful corporations out there.
Together, we’ve moved a pharma giant.
Together, we are a force to be reckoned with.
But we cannot stop here.
Cruel horse blood farms will still operate as long as there are pharma companies willing to buy their products — and the next big player could step in and take over the business MSD has left behind.
Mark, will you share our campaign against IDT Biologika with your friends?
The more we are, the better our chances of getting IDT Biologika to stop working with these torturous blood farms as well.
Or you can copy and share this email if you prefer:
Dear Friends,
Big pharma is making huge profits from the torture of horses. Thousands of horses are raised purely for the purpose of having their blood extracted and sold — with dire consequences.
It’s a sickening business that the SumOfUs community has been standing up against for months. And together we just scored a major victory against it! Pharma giant Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) cut all ties with the most notorious blood farms we know about!
Now we need to stop the next big player — IDT Biologika — from stepping in and taking over the business MSD has left behind.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 