Ind: Revealed: Sale of garden furniture in Britain is propping up a brutal regime
sufaud
By Maxine Frith, Social Affairs Correspondent
The Independent
24 March 2005
One of Britain's biggest garden centre companies is selling furniture made
from teak sold by the oppressive Burmese military regime. Tables, chairs and
other goods made from the wood are on sale at dozens of branches of Wyevale
Garden Centres around the country.
The company and its supplier, a British company called Neptune, claim to
sell furniture only from ethical sources, and do not mention in publicity
that their products have come from Burma. But campaigners say that profits
from the garden furniture sets are propping up the south-east Asian
country's brutal dictatorship.
The revelations come ahead of the biggest weekend for garden centres, with
millions of pounds expected to be spent over the Easter holiday. Many of
Wyevale's 114 stores sell furniture sets made by Neptune.
Some of the teak used in Neptune's garden furniture is bought directly from
the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which rules Burma.
Nathan Argent, forests campaigner for Greenpeace, which carried out the
investigation, said: "Wyevale have acted disgracefully by buying timber from
Burma. There is absolutely no excuse for this abhorrent behaviour.
"Wyevale are failing their customers by selling timber that is directly
linked to environmental destruction and human rights abuses."
Burma is the world's largest exporter of teak and the vast majority of
exports are directly controlled by the SPDC. Forestry is supposed to be
controlled in an attempt to prevent environmental damage and there are legal
quotas on the amount of timber exported.
But illegal logging and the over-forestation of supposedly sustainable
forests are destroying huge swaths of Burma's timber supplies.
The secrecy of the Burmese regime makes it impossible to know whether timber
from the country is legal or illegal, campaigners say.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the international body that certifies
forests as sustainable for buyers and customers, is so concerned about
logging in Burma that it has refused to give any timber from the country its
backing.
Giles Redman, the managing director of Swindon-based Neptune, defended his
company's business in Burma yesterday, and claimed that the SPDC was
supported by the country's people. He said: "There are two ways of the
dealing with the solution; one, you apply sanctions. The alternative is to
do business with them and the country gets interested in the idea that they
are generating dollars and they have to take more responsibility."
Wyevale made more than £15m in pre-tax profit last year. It claims to only
use ethical suppliers, and says that it "fully supports" the FSC guidelines.
But it does not tell customers that some of the products in the Neptune
range are made of timber from Burma.
In a league table of ethical garden furniture suppliers compiled by
Greenpeace, Wyevale was given an "E" grade for selling goods linked to
Burma. The company also scores badly for failing to provide sufficient
evidence that timber which is sourced from Indonesia, where corruption and
illegal logging is rife, has come from sustainable supplies.
A spokeswoman for Wyevale said: "Wyevale cannot provide a full statement
until it has investigated the matter fully. However, it would like to
reiterate its policy, which is to ensure that all our wooden furniture is
manufactured from timber which is certificated to have been sourced from
managed forests."
But she could not confirm that all of its products were FSC certified, and
did not deny that Neptune products were sold in stores.
Only House of Fraser and Harrods were given the worse score of "F", for
failing to respond to Greenpeace's requests for information about the
sources of their furniture.
Asda, Woolworth's, Tesco and B&Q all scored a top A grade from only using
products with an FSC certificate.
Greenpeace, along with other lobby groups, is calling on consumers to
boycott all products from Burma.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=623110
colkyaw...@aol.com
jirjis
<colkyaw...@aol.com> wrote in message
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jirjis
"George Orwell" <nob...@mixmaster.it> wrote in message
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>
>
>
> This (kkw1) sicko is sicker than Jacko.
> Is he a paedo or a homo ?
> Only SPDC knows !
> But we'll never know !!
>
> Keep on licking sicko.
>
James Whyley
"George Orwell" <nob...@mixmaster.it> wrote in message
news:513d8443ed7d48f6...@mixmaster.it...
>
>
> I am referring to mother fuckers.
> Are you one ?
>
> Rebuilding Mecca in the in the middle of China.
> Amongst pig sties.
> kalar....tayoke lee soke.
Martin Edwards
> What are you on about?
>
--
You can't fool me: there ain't no Sanity Clause. -Chico Marx
James Whyley
"Martin Edwards" <buzza...@fastmail.co.uk> wrote in message
news:d2bo2q$rip$1...@sparta.btinternet.com...
> James Whyley wrote:
>> What are you on about?
>>
> He is not really on about anything: he is a troll.
Trolling has gone downhill since last I ventured on Usenet.
Martin Edwards
Muslim group. In fact regular posters are speculative thinkers of most
of the major religions and, in my case, none.
Conrad Linde
> James Whyley wrote:
>
>> "Martin Edwards" <buzza...@fastmail.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:d2bo2q$rip$1...@sparta.btinternet.com...
>>
>>> James Whyley wrote:
>>>
>>>> What are you on about?
>>>>
>>>
>>> He is not really on about anything: he is a troll.
>>
>>
>>
>> Trolling has gone downhill since last I ventured on Usenet.
>>
> Trolls regularly shout "pig!" in this group, thinking that it is a
> Muslim group. In fact regular posters are speculative thinkers of
> most of the major religions and, in my case, none.
>
I agree. I was wondering myself if this was meant to offend and in
which case whom. I just always presumed that it was done either for
effect or out of some teenage-kind of release, daring to free oneself
from the long-standing shackles of 'you must and you must'nt' . Must be
disappointing to find no one cared all along.
James Whyley
>>>He is not really on about anything: he is a troll.
>>
>>
>> Trolling has gone downhill since last I ventured on Usenet.
> Trolls regularly shout "pig!" in this group, thinking that it is a Muslim
> group. In fact regular posters are speculative thinkers of most of the
> major religions and, in my case, none.
They should vary their tactics. Perhaps shout "mollusc" from time to time on
the off-chance.
jirjis
"James Whyley" <unl...@the.trout> wrote in message
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James Whyley
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jirjis
"James Whyley" <unl...@the.trout> wrote in message
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James Whyley
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