The world's forests are shrinking faster and faster. Their preservation would be vital for our survival to protect the climate and the immense variety of plants and animals that they house. A German supply chain law was passed in June and will come into force in 2023, but it does not cover environmental issues unless they are also directly related to human rights violations. After all, risks have to be determined in the case of direct suppliers, and in the case of indirect suppliers action must be taken at “substantial knowledge” of human rights violations. The EU legislative proposal on the supply chain law, which is still being drawn up, should nonetheless also work against imported deforestation. Unfortunately, the EU Regulatory Control Council has now questioned the proportionality of the law, after massive pressure from industry lobbyists and the German federal government, which had previously been lobbyed by the Federal Association of German Industries (BDI), the automotive industry (VDA) and have exerted strong pressure with the economic wing of the CDU/CSU and Minister of Economic Affairs Altmaier. An EU legislative proposal against deforestation is under attack likewise. Specifically, deforestation concerns are about imported palm oil, soy, meat, leather and rubber, which are important for the automotive industry, as well as coffee and cocoa. At EU level, the proposed law is no longer subordinate to Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders exclusively, but also to Commissioner for Internal Markets and Growth Thierry Breton. Leather for car seats is one of the main drivers of deforestation in the Amazon and shall be removed from the list of products at risk of deforestation. 80% of global deforestation is due to the expansion of agriculture.
On September 17, 2021, the conservative-liberal majority in the EU Parliament voted against a ban on reserve antibiotics in factory farming. Reserve antibiotics are antibiotics that are used for humans when other antibiotics no longer take effect due to resistance. Every year there are around 33,000 deaths due to multi-resistant germs in Europe. Although it was possible to reduce the use of antibiotics by vaccinating the livestock, their use has recently increased again. The main evils are overcrowded, huge stalls that encourage the spread of germs. Reserve antibiotics make up 40% of the total consumption of antibiotics there. Turkey meat is said to be particularly polluted. At the discount store Lidl, 35% of the samples were contaminated with resistant germs, at Aldi 26%. You can get infected during preparation and by consumption. Large amounts of germs enter the environment via the manure (see previous message). The problem is that antibiotics are always administered to the entire animal population instead of taking sick animals out for individual treatment.
Chancellor Kurz has announced his resignation, but rejects any guilt. — … are ahead. Can't we turn this around? Yes we can. — In view of what we know from the chat logs, an apology without exclusive reference to wording would likely have been appropriate. That there was nothing with reference to his white vest is likely not true, even if the accusations should not be substantiated under criminal law. After all, he has cleared the way for a continuation of the black-green coalition.
The biotech industry is waging an ongoing lobby battle to exclude new GMOs from current European safety checks, monitoring, or consumer labelling. The European Commission has just launched a public consultation, which will only run until 22 October 2021. So far, the process has been highly biased in favour of the biotech industry. It's important to have your voice heard now! In 2018 the EU’s highest court ruled that that the current regulations must be applied to new GMOs. Now politicians want to alter the rules so that they do not apply for new gene manipulation methods any more.
Neues Video des Youtubers Rezo zu Korruption und Lobbyismus. Recherchiert dazu hat unter anderem auch abgeordnetenwatch.de. Eigentlich hätten wir das Video schon vor den Wahlen in Deutschland posten sollen. Es enthält auch interessante Informationen zu Olaf Scholz.
