press releases

Fukui City, 13 October - British Nuclear Fuels the producers of MOX fuel for Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) are ignoring basic safety and quality standards of industrial production in an apparent attempt to reduce production costs, Greenpeace and Green Action claimed today.

The accusation comes after the two organisations commissioned an assessment by Dr. Frank Barnaby following the revelation that quality control data was falsified. Three workers accused of being responsible for the falsification were fired from BNFL last week.

La Coruna, Spain, 13 October 1999 - Greenpeace activists today blocked both gates to the Sogama incinerator under construction in Spain. If finished the incinerator would be the largest in Spain and a new source of dioxin.

Hamburg, October 1999 - After months of silence the Aldi supermarket chain has now declared it will not use genetic modification in its own brand-name products. A letter from the company's head offices assures Greenpeace that its products do not contain genetically modified ingredients and that it wants to continue to ensure this will remain so.

Greenpeace's QC today branded the Government's main legal argument a breach of the organisation's human rights and an abuse of the legal process. The Government argues that Greenpeace delayed in applying for a judicial review of its oil licensing on the Atlantic Frontier and that Greenpeace should have made its application sometime over the last five years.

Beirut, 12 October 1999 - Greenpeace today declared that the aggressive treatment that the organisation's activists and the media received yesterday, during their peaceful protest at the Lebanese Chemical Company (LCC) in Selaata, should not divert attention from the ecological crimes being committed by the company. Greenpeace also accused experts from the Ministry of Environment of misleading the public in attempting to minimise the dangers to public health resulting from toxic pollution.

The Government has conceded that oil and gas exploration in the Britain's North East Atlantic - the Atlantic Frontier - may harm whales and dolphins. The admission came in the High Court today where Greenpeace is taking the Government to court for failing to apply wildlife protection law up to 200 nautical miles from the coast.

Selaata, North Lebanon, 11 October 1999 - Greenpeace activists and the media were today assaulted by the police and guards, and shots were fired by the Lebanese military, during a peaceful protest at the dock of the major polluter in Lebanon, the Lebanese Chemical Company (LCC). Greenpeace is opposing the ecological crimes committed by this company which daily discharges toxic sludge into the Mediterranean.

Blue whale gets less protection than the medicinal leech

11 October 1999 - Greenpeace is urging the U.S. Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty when it comes up for a vote in the Senate on October 12th. Greenpeace called on governments around the world to take diplomatic measures to encourage U.S. ratification of the treaty.

The Clinton administration in the US has been seeking the approval of the Senate to ratify the CTBT since 1996, while the Republicans have consistently opposed hearings in the Senate with the aim of rejecting ratification of the Treaty.

On 7 October, 1999, Greenpeace announced the launch of a 'Commission for Wave Power in Scotland,' at a briefing on the potential of wave power to the Scottish Parliament. The members of the new Commission range from MSPs, electricity suppliers and wave energy experts, to the Scottish TUC.

The commission will work independently of both Government and Greenpeace to determine how to capitalise on the industrial opportunities offered by Scotland's position as world leader in wave power. (1) It will report its findings to the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive.