Progress... is it really?

Growth of the 'big four' supermarkets

'For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of a mega-dairy, Nocton will be around 30 times bigger than the average UK dairy farm; the cows will be kept largely indoors; and aside from producing record-breaking quantities of milk, it will also produce 20 million gallons of cow excrement each year which will somehow need to be disposed of.'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12043359

In pictures: The future of UK dairy farming?

Lincolnshire - the birthplace of the mega-dairy in the UK - no thanks!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9294000/9294893.stm

Co-op and Marks & Spencer named UK's 'greenest' supermarkets

'Retailers score highly for their progress in areas such as sustainable sourcing, while Tesco, Asda and Netto receive the lowest ratings.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/20/co-op-marks-spencer-greenest-supermarkets

Sandra Steingraber: There's a taboo about telling industry and agriculture that practices must change to prevent cancer

'I have been delighted to learn that now there is a thriving, organic farm culture instead of endless fields of soy and corn, which were very intensively farmed and used for ethanol production, animal feed or snack food. Now there are famers' markets.

At the same time, in the area where the cancer rates are high, there is a plan to build a mega-hog-farm operation. There are so many chemicals used to raise animals in that way, my concern will be drinking-water contamination. It's the last thing that community needs.'

http://www.theecologist.org/Interviews/687501/sandra_steingraber_theres_a_taboo_about_telling_industry_and_agriculture_that_practices_must_change_to_prevent_cancer.html

USDA Recommends "Coexistence" with Monsanto: We Say Hell No! by Ronnie Cummins

'After 16 years of non-stop biotech bullying and force-feeding Genetically Engineered or Modified (GE or GM) crops to farm animals and "Frankenfoods" to unwitting consumers, Monsanto has a big problem, or rather several big problems. A growing number of published scientific studies indicate that GE foods pose serious human health threats.'

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_22240.cfm

If DEFRA and Ms Spelman get their way and we end up eating food from cloned animals in the UK as a norm, will you be content?

More on cloning and GM here:

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml

http://hort201.tamu.edu/YouthAdventureProgram/GeneticEngineering/GeneticEngineering.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/genetically-modified-organisms-pros-and-cons.html

DEFRA confirms quango budget cuts

'Two of DEFRA’s biggest agencies will slash their spending by £689m over the next four years.'

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/12/22/124860/DEFRA-confirms-quango-budget-cuts.htm