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oooThe Earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses. - Utah Phillips

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Issue 21: December 2004

Yes, it's curtains for mankind! So why's Issue 21 in such a good mood? Maybe it's the general absurdity of things. Or maybe it's because there's a a lot to do and be thankful for. Either way, it's time for serious investigations into: Nuclear PR, Nanotech, Refugee Prisons, Iraq, GM and more..

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Corporate Watch,
16b Cherwell St.
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United Kingdom
Tel:+44 (0)1865 791 391 mail@corporatewatch.org
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News

January 26th, 2005

PATENTS ON FLOWERS: PROFITS TO BLOSSOM?
The European Patent Office is currently considering an application by crop science giant Syngenta to control the DNA that regulates the way flowers grow in rice plants. Not only will this give Syngenta control over rice crops, but it could also be generalised by patent lawyers to apply to controlling the flowering of plants in general – including 23 major food crops and maybe even plants yet unknown
Read more...

NOT SUCH A CUDDLY PANDA – WWF acts to make GM soya ‘sustainable’
The World Wide Fund for Nature (now known as WWF) continues its career as the thinking corporation’s greenwasher with a recent initiative designed to extend the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) soya across much of Latin America. Food giants such as Unilever are getting together with soya producers in an upcoming Business Round Table on Sustainable Soy that will be convened by the WWF in Brazil, in March 2005. Read more...

NEWS
ICELAND UNDER ATTACK- Threatened protestors raise stakes, call for international protest
People in Iceland are calling for an international protest against the building of a series of giant dams, currently under construction in the eastern highlands of Iceland. The dams are designated solely to generate energy for a massive aluminium smelter, which will be run by the US aluminium corporation Alcoa and built by Bechtel. Read more...

LOGGING COMPANY SET FOR SPECTACULAR OWN GOAL - Tasmanian rainforest destroyer tries to sue protestors into silence
Gunns, the company responsible for logging the Tasmanian rainforests, is responding to a 5-year long campaign of protests and direct action by issuing a mass lawsuit, hoping to intimidate or impoverish its opponents out of existence. On the 13th of December, 2004 it filed a case naming 20 individuals and groups, from direct action protestors to a Green Party senator, and is seeking over A$6million in damages from them for a ‘conspiracy to injure Gunns by unlawful means’ - harming Gunns’ profits by protesting. Read more...

NEWS IN BRIEF
According to a new Gallup poll, 84 percent of Icelanders want Iceland to be taken off the list of countries (called the "Coalition of the Willing") which support US military action in Iraq

The American prison company Management and Training Corporation (MTC), which set up Abu Ghraib jail, is now bidding to operate at least one prison in the UK and to build and manage several more

UK milk is allowed to contain up to 400,000 pus cells per millilitre - the pus comes from sores and other teat infections caused by modern farming practices

Tasers, which fire two barbed darts and then 50,000 volts into their victims, have been issued to some British police - the American CEO of Taser Inc recently addressed a 'Less Lethal Weapons Conference' in Dublin.

More News >>

New research

Profile
ASDA Wal-Mart
Since 1999 Asda has been wholly owned by Wal-Mart - the largest company and arguably 'the most ruthless employer' in the world.
November 2004

Profile
Tesco
Britain's biggest and most profitable supermarket chain, is the darling of the City. But behind the fascia of the 'under one roof' out-of-town Tesco Extra, or the friendly high street Tesco Metro, lies a ruthless billion pound operation.
September 2004

Profile
News Corporation
Murdoch's media empire revealed. May 2004

Agriculture
A Rough Guide to the UK Farming Crisis (pdf)
Farmers have taken a battering from
environmentalists, and from the public in
general, for not carrying out these responsibilities as well as they should. Much of this criticism is justified. However, this report argues is that it is not entirely the farmers' fault if they have failed in these undertakings. The problems that surround the farming industry are very largely attributable to one elementary fact which is beyond the farmers' control. May 2004

Agriculture
What's Wrong with Supermarkets (pdf)
In this updated booklet, 'What's Wrong with Supermarkets', Corporate Watch introduces the reader to the 'dog eat dog' world of the major UK supermarket chains and exposes the dark side of Britain's favourite shops. April 2004

Profile
UK Construction Industry Overview
Taking an industry overview looking at the role of PFI and the sectors economic importance. Profiling themajor players including Tarmac, Carillion, Alfred McAlpine, AMEC and Balfour Beatty, as well as government influence, trade bodies profiled and resources for taking further action. March 2004

Profile
Sodexho
War, prisons, anti-unionism and oil - this company are involved in the lot. A specialist in outsourcing and privatised utilities campaigners are most likely to associate Sodexho with its ill-fated government contract to provide benefits to asylum seekers in the form of vouchers. However, there's more to them than that... March 2004

Profile
Microsoft
The biggest computer company on earth, run by the richest man on earth but there's more to Microsoft than meets the eye. Feb 2004

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Corporate Watch
16b Cherwell St. Oxford OX41BG. United Kingdom. Tel:+44 (0)1865 791 391 mail@corporatewatch.org
or for web enquiries