Rob Edwards

Unveiled: undercover eco-spooks emerge from the shadows

from Sunday Herald, 13 June 2010

For 15 years they have been working undercover to expose environmental criminals around the globe, spying on wildlife smugglers, secretly filming animal abusers and infiltrating planet-trashers.

They have witnessed appalling cruelty, adopted numerous fake identities and sometimes put their lives in danger. In so doing they have helped put crooks behind bars, changed government policies and made many headlines.

But they have not, until now, claimed any credit. Today, for the first time, they are emerging from the shadows to court a little publicity for their daring deeds. 

Welcome to the eco-spooks - or, to give them their proper name, Tracks Investigations. They are, as they say, “not MI5, not 9 to 5”, and they boast an “amazing success record.”

They don’t want to be pictured, and some of them don’t want to be named. They don’t like speaking about their current investigations, but they have just set up a website. And they’ve agreed to talk to the Sunday Herald.

Since 1995, Tracks Investigations has carried about 250 investigations in scores of countries. They have exposed destruction of the Amazon rainforest, mass sheep shipments from Australia, pig cargoes trucked across Europe and the stripping of protected peatlands in the UK.

McDonald’s: playing chicken with British food

from Sunday Herald, 06 June 2010

The cattle crowded into the barn near Bishopton stared intently at the group of visiting dignitaries, blissfully unaware of their fate. “These animals are very close to being burgers,” said the farmer, John Ritchie, with a smile.

He was helping the world’s most famous fast food chain, McDonald’s, do its public relations. Surrounded by the US company’s irrepressible executives, he carefully spelled out how his beef cattle were reared locally on local food, before they were killed to make Big Macs.

It’s the patriotic pitch at the heart of McDonald’s new, high-profile marketing campaign, which jetted in and out of Scotland on Friday. The company’s beef, pork, eggs, milk and potatoes were virtually all British: that was the message, repeated ad nauseam.

“Our customers care about where their food comes from,” insisted Nick Hindle, the company’s vice president for communications from London. “People want to eat British food. They think it is supporting the British economy and they trust the quality.”

But there’s one McDonald’s staple that is not mentioned in any of the blurbs, that fails to feature in any of the media spin, and that makes a mockery of the whole PR exercise: chicken. That’s because 99% of it comes from abroad.

Does factory farmed meat make us sick?

from Sunday Herald, 30 May 2010

The video clips are upsetting. There’s a big bin full of dead lambs, a piglet slipping across a filth-strewn floor in search of its mother and a calf lying dead in a shed with blood seeping from its nose and mouth.

The latest compilation of factory farming horrors assembled by the campaign group, Animal Aid, packs an emotional punch. But it also underlies the serious message that the anti-meat activists want to get across: that industrial farms can hurt humans as well as animals.

At least 12 major diseases, which between them cause millions of people to suffer and tens of thousands to die around the world, can be blamed on factory farming, they claim. These include swine flu, bird flu, salmonella, e-coli and mad cow disease.

But their campaign has provoked a vitriolic response from the National Farmers Union (NFU) in Scotland, who condemned it as “poisonous”. Others, however, are less critical, arguing that the campaigners have a point, but just take it too far.

The arguments, though sometimes bitter, are important because they are about how we look after the animals on which we rely for food. And they raise the question of what we can eat without being cruel -  and without putting our own health at risk.

Thousands of school children at risk from pesticides

from Sunday Herald, 31 January 2010

The health of thousands children is being put at risk by the widespread use of toxic pesticides in Scottish schools, according to a new survey by environmental groups.

Local authorities across the country have admitted spraying chemicals suspected of causing cancers and other health problems on playing fields, paths and playgrounds to control weeds. They have also laid poisonous bait to try and get rid of rats.

Exposing children to such risks is “staggering” and “unacceptable”, say campaigners, who are demanding a ban. Some councils say they would prefer not to use pesticides, but manufacturers insist they are safe if properly used.

Councils across the UK were asked for the first time to identify which pesticides they used in schools. The survey was carried out at the end of last year by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), which brings together 65 organisations in 26 countries across Europe, along with the UK campaign group, Pesticides Action Network.

Pesticide company under fire for funding research into bee decline

from Sunday Herald, 04 October 2009

One of the world’s biggest pesticide companies, Syngenta, has been accused of a “howling conflict of interest” for funding research into the disappearance of honeybees - a problem which some say it may have helped cause.

Syngenta, based in Basel, Switzerland, last year clocked up £7.3 billion worth of sales in more than 90 countries. Among the products it markets to farmers are insecticides which have been blamed for harming honeybees.

It now also co-funds a £1 million project in the UK, announced last week, to research the decline of the bees. But the company insists that its money will not influence the outcome of the research, and dismisses criticisms of its role as “perverse”.

A film due to open in cinemas this week exposes the global plight of the honeybee, and argues that insecticides are partly to blame. Called ‘Vanishing of the Bees’, it is backed by the £9 billion Co-operative retail group, which has banned suspect chemicals from being used on its fresh fruit and vegetables.

According to beekeepers, honeybee populations in the UK crashed by nearly a third in 2008. The implications are alarming, as bees contribute £200 million a year to the UK economy and pollinate one in every three mouthfuls of food that we eat.

New campaign to make Scotland more fruitful

from Sunday Herald, 06 September 2009

A fruit tree in every street. That is the vision of a new campaign that will be launched at Holyrood later this month to plant apple, pear and plum trees across Scotland.

If the organisers have their way, fruit trees will begin to bloom on housing estates, parks and canal banks, as well as in the grounds of schools, universities, hospitals, churches and businesses.

“Our vision is an ambitious one,” said John Hancox, director of the Commonwealth Orchard, the voluntary group that is launching the campaign. “That all children across Scotland will grow up seeing the fruit trees they planted, blossoming and bearing fruit, near where they live.”

Across the UK it is estimated that 90% of orchards have been lost to development or agriculture over the last 100 years. Scotland has been left with just 105 commercial orchards covering less than 50 hectares.

The UK used to boast as many as 6,000 different varieties of apples, only a tiny number of which are now grown. There are more than 40 types of apples specific to Scotland, including the Coul Blush from Easter Ross (see below).

Fiji Water: not so cool after all

from Sunday Herald, 23 August 2009

The walls are all lime green and glass, the clientele all lip gloss and tan, and the waiters’ smiles sometimes seem like sneers. But the world’s most expensive water is off.

Ask for Fiji Water at the restaurant in Edinburgh’s most upmarket store, Harvey Nichols, and you’ll be met with incomprehension. Walk across the shop floor, buy a bottle of the hugely-hyped drink from the cooler for £2, and you’ll be told that you can’t consume it on the premises.

Such an ambiguous attitude towards the bottled water that is meant to be the epitome of chic may not be deliberate, but it is understandable. The water comes, after all, half way across the globe clad in plastic from a country ruled by one of the world’s most repressive regimes.

The elected government of the Fiji islands in the South Pacific was overthrown by a military coup in 2006, led by the armed forces commander, Frank Bainimarama. His rule was declared illegal by the Fiji court of appeal in April this year, since when he has abolished the judiciary, banned public gatherings and delayed elections until 2014.

In the circumstances, how Fiji Water has managed to maintain its image as the water celebrities like to be seen drinking is a marvel of the marketing age. But now, the cracks are beginning to show.

The madness of filleting Scottish fish in China

from Sunday Herald, 23 August 2009

by Mike Merritt and Rob Edwards

Cod caught off Scotland is being sent on a 10,000-mile round trip to China and back again to be filleted for supermarkets, shops and chip suppers.

The fish is caught in the North Atlantic, deep frozen, shipped to China for processing by workers earning less than £1-a-day before being refrozen and returned to Scotland.

The globe-trotting trek made by cod has been condemned as “madness” and “ridiculous” by Scottish fish producers, fishermen and environmentalists. And it happens despite pledges by supermarkets and food producers to reduce their climate pollution and food miles.

The revelation also raises questions about the environmental and social impact of the globalisation of the Scottish food industry. “Surely it would make more sense to process the fish here,” said Hugh Raven, director of Soil Association Scotland, which backs organic food.

“Something's wrong with a food system in which cod caught off Scotland is transported to China and then back to be eaten.”

Revealed: half of our food is contaminated with pesticides

from Sunday Herald, 02 August 2009

Almost half of the food sold in supermarkets and shops across the UK last year was contaminated with toxic pesticides, according to the latest scientific surveys for the government.

Almost every orange, 94% of pineapples and 90% of pears sampled were laced with traces of chemicals used to kill bugs. HIgh proportions of apples grapes and tomatoes were also tainted, as were parsnips, melons and cucumbers.

Alarmingly, as much as a quarter of the food on sale in 2008 was found to contain multiple pesticides. In some cases residues of up to ten different artificial chemicals were detected in a single sample.

Experts warn that the “cocktail effect” of so many different chemicals could endanger health. They also point out that some of the pesticides are suspected of causing cancer and of being “gender-benders” that disrupt human sexuality.

The revelations about the widespread contamination of conventionally produced food have also prompted renewed attacks the government’s Food Standards Agency. It published a report last week casting doubt on the health benefits of eating organic food, which is mostly produced without pesticides.

‘We got it wrong’ admits McDonalds

from Sunday Herald, 28 June 2009

It’s one of the world’s most popular brands, but also one of the most hated.  It makes children happy and saves parents money - or it kills us with calories while trashing the planet.

The American fast food chain, McDonalds, has often provoked fierce arguments. But it’s never been known for its humility, its tact or its diplomacy.

Yet there, between the horse manure and the hordes at the Royal Highland Show last week, were the company’s sharp-suited, short-haired executives sounding almost apologetic. In an interview with the Sunday Herald, they admitted that they had got things wrong, and that their business had suffered as a result.

Naturally they insisted that the company was now getting things right, but new evidence suggests that it is still exploiting children in its advertising, still destroying tropical rainforests and still making a massive contribution to global warming.

Whatever way you look at it, McDonalds is a $24 billion phenomenon. It serves more than 58 million people a day in 31,000 restaurants in 118 countries, and has become perhaps the most ubiquitous and high-profile symbol of American capitalism.

The global food crisis in 2008

from Sunday Herald, 28 December 2008

In Bangladesh, Shahita Khatan’s children are growing thin. Her two young daughters and 10-year-old son collect cow dung from the roadside to sell as fuel, so they can buy food.

When her husband has work, they manage to get enough to eat. But when he doesn’t, they go hungry. “The time has come when we will die starving,” she says.

Khatan is just one of the billion people in the world who now want for enough nutrition to keep them fit and healthy. High prices, the changing climate and growing demands have conspired to make 2008 the year of the global food crisis.

The silent tsunami that is killing 25,000 a day

from Sunday Herald, 07 December 2008

A silent tsunami of hunger is engulfing the world, afflicting nearly a billion people in 60 countries and killing 25,000 men, women and children every day.

The global food crisis, triggered by high prices, shortages and bad weather, is  deepening as the world’s economy moves into recession. Millions more people are now facing poverty, starvation, disease and death.

The World Bank is predicting that 967 million people will now go hungry in 2008, 44 million more than in 2007. That means that almost one in every six people on the planet is not getting enough food to stay healthy. 

Children’s growth is being stunted, immune systems are being destroyed and fatal diseases like diarrhoea, measles and malaria are spreading. “This is a tragic loss of human and economic potential”, says a report from the World Bank.

Pesticide contamination of food at record levels

from Sunday Herald, 26 October 2008

Food on sale across Europe has been contaminated by record levels of toxic pesticides, according to a draft report for the European Commission.

Half of the fruit, vegetables and cereals tested in 28 countries - including the UK and Scotland - was found to contain traces of pesticides. Amongst the worst contaminated were grapes, bananas, peppers and aubergines.

More than 2,500 samples - nearly five per cent - had levels in breach of safety limits. Altogether 354 different pesticides were detected, 23 of them at levels officially judged as a health risk.

Cheaper food in tougher times

from Sunday Herald, 19 October 2008

As the credit crunch starts to bite and prices rise, shoppers are changing their habits and starting to search out cheaper food - and avoid the pricier premium brands.

Monitoring by the market research company, TNS, has revealed a distinct shift in behaviour over the last year. The most dramatic change is a 34% rise in the sales of supermarkets’ own cut-price brands, coupled with a 2% decline in their premium brands and a 9% drop in their more expensive “healthy” products.

One year on, how green is the SNP?

from Sunday Herald, 27 April 2008

The SNP grew up on oil, is wedded to economic expansion and always wants to put Scotland first. As a political party, it has never developed a coherent theoretical approach to one of the defining issues of the age: the environment.

It comes as some surprise then, that after a year in power, the SNP has won warm plaudits from many environmentalists. There are still major reservations, of course, but most observers outside political parties seem to think that the SNP is doing a better job than its predecessors in government.

Plea for sustainable local food

from Sunday Herald, 13 April 2008

Ministers must put the environment at the heart of their policy on food by seeking to support local food, minimise food miles and cut pollution, say the government’s green advisers.

But in a submission to the Scottish government’s discussion on food policy this week, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) will warn that there could be “confusion and misunderstanding” if the goal of sustainable food is not properly defined.

The SDC will also call on ministers to do more to help ensure global food security, by reducing the amount of food imported into Scotland. And it will urge all public agencies to source the meals served in their canteens from local producers.

The Scottish government doesn't eat much Scottish food

from Sunday Herald, 23 March 2008

In the First Minister Alex Salmond’s well-publicised bid to eat only Scottish food last week, he would have been well advised to steer clear of the Scottish government’s own canteens.

An investigation by the Sunday Herald has discovered that as much as 80% of the vegetables and half the meat served to nearly 6,000 civil servants in Edinburgh and Glasgow are imported from outwith Scotland.

The revelation, condemned as “appalling” by food campaigners, has prompted drastic action by ministers. The contract for supplying meals and snacks to the Scottish government and its guests is now to be put out to tender to help boost local food.

Scottish government to ban bottled water

from Sunday Herald, 23 March 2008

Bottled water is to be banned at Scottish government events as part of a bid to ‘go greener’ and protect the environment.

Ministers have told the Sunday Herald that bottles of still water will no longer be provided at meetings hosted on government premises in Edinburgh or Glasgow. Instead, the water will come from the mains.

Local food project saved at eleventh hour

from Sunday Herald, 16 March 2008

A prize-winning local food project, which was closed down last week because of a funding shortfall, has been given an eleventh-hour reprieve after an investigation by the Sunday Herald.

On Friday morning Highlands and Islands Local Food Network (HILFN) was “gutted” at having to cancel a £60,000 apprenticeship scheme for local food producers. But by Friday afternoon crucial funding had been reinstated, putting the scheme back on track.

The Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) office covering Inverness and east highland reversed an earlier decision not to fund six apprentices from their area to join the year-long training scheme. This means that the scheme can now go ahead, to the delight of its organisers.

Attack on government food discussion

from Sunday Herald, 16 March 2008

The Scottish government’s public discussion on food policy has been attacked as “bland motherhood and apple pie” and “ridiculous” by an international food expert.

But the criticisms have been dismissed as an “extreme rant” by the environment minister, Richard Lochhead, who pointed out that the discussion had been welcomed by the vast majority of people.