Friday, June 12, 2009

Greenpeace's Beef

I actually agree with them here. We should all stop eating animal flesh, period.

"Group says global beef trade is destroying Amazon forests" by Reuters | June 1, 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO - Consumers around the world are unwittingly fueling the destruction of the Amazon forest by buying Brazilian beef products linked to illegal deforestation, the environment group Greenpeace said yesterday.

In a report titled "Slaughtering the Amazon," the group also accused the Brazilian government, which has pledged to cut deforestation by half in 10 years, of being complicit in the destruction because of its hefty funding of the beef industry. The report presented satellite analysis it said showed that meat exported by Brazil's big meatpackers to make everything from Italian shoes and US dog chews to United Kingdom ready-to-eat meals often comes from ranches with recent illegal deforestation.

The major meatpackers, such as JBS, Marfrig and Bertin, ship the beef or hides thousands of miles south for further processing before export, it said. The report also identified a string of major companies - including Adidas, Nike, BMW, Honda, Gucci, Tesco, and Wal-Mart - that it said used "Amazon-contaminated" supplies....

I think everyone knows by now Wal-Mart doesn't give a crap where or how it gets products.

Some of those other names sure are surprising, though: Adidas, Nike, BMW, Honda

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