Daily Grist: Europe's biofuel boom could shaft world's poor, leaded toys recalled, and more

[Guest guest]

At 11:38 AM 11/1/07, you wrote:

>I Pity the Fuel

>Oxfam warns Europe's biofuel boom likely to worsen plight of world's poor

>

>The anti-poverty charity Oxfam said this week that the European Union's

>rush to biofuels could hit the world's poor quite hard. The group released

>a report about the issue suggesting that without proper controls to make

>the biofuels boom sustainable and more just, it's likely to threaten the

>food supply and provide a large incentive to heavily concentrate land

>ownership for biofuels production, pushing many poor subsistence farmers

>and others off their land. Oxfam suggested that the E.U. work to ensure

>land rights, labor standards, and food security are protected in the

>countries that produce its biofuels, including Brazil, Colombia,

>Indonesia, Malaysia, and Tanzania. " In the scramble to supply the E.U. and

>the rest of the world with biofuels, poor people are getting trampled, "

>said Oxfam's Robert Bailey. " The E.U. proposals as they stand will

>exacerbate the problem. It is unacceptable that poor people in developing

>countries should bear the cost of questionable attempts to cut emissions

>in Europe. "

>

>[ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ]

>sources: Associated Press, BBC News, The Register

>straight to the report: Bio-Fueling Poverty [PDF]

>

>

>

>TODAY'S NEWS

>

>Finally, U.S. Agencies Handling Toy Recalls Get Some Teeth

>U.S. recalls 440,000 more leaded toys, including novelty teeth

>

>If Halloween itself wasn't the fright-fest you'd hoped for, maybe the most

>recent round of leaded-toy recalls will do the trick. This week's list

>includes 1,500 Ribbit board games, 16,000 sets of Elite Operations action

>figures from Toys 'R' Us, 380,000 Galaxy Warriors figures, and 43,000 sets

>of novelty teeth. The teeth were found by independent testers to contain

>about 100 times the permissible level of lead. The scary part: there's a

>permissible lead level for novelty teeth.

>

>[ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ]

>sources: Agence France-Presse, Associated Press

 

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