“UK soldier and veteran suicides ‘outstrip Afghan deaths’“, BBC, 14 July 2013
More British soldiers and veterans took their own lives in 2012 than died fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan over the same period.
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Author Archives: TPNS
The real cost of getting rid of Trident from Scotland: £150m
“The real cost of getting rid of Trident from Scotland: £150m“, HeraldScotland, 14 July 2013
Westminster warnings that the bill for ridding an independent Scotland of Trident would run into billions have been undermined by revelations that the UK Government previously put the cost at £150 million.
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Transcript of Jimmy Carter’s Speech at Lafayette College
Jimmy Carter, inaugural Robert and Margaret Pastor Lecture in International Affairs, Lafayette College, April 22
What can we do to improve our own lives? Let me go down the list. Let’s talk about peace. That’s one of the major attributes that a human being would have in his life. I would say that the major religions would also have these same kind of things in mind. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Christian or Jew or a Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist. The major religions advocate peace. They also advocate taking care of the environment. They also advocate helping people who are in need.
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The Korean War: Forgotten, Unknown and Unfinished
H Patricia Hynes, “The Korean War: Forgotten, Unknown and Unfinished“, Truthout, 12 July 2013
On Veterans Day 2011, Korean War veteran Jack Tolbert spoke to a gathering at a Northern California cemetery. After relating his memories of serving in the war, among them covering a hand grenade with his lower body to save soldiers under his command, he remarked, “I’ve never understood why they insisted on calling it the Korean Conflict. After seeing the bodies I’ve seen, it was more like a war than anything else I’ve ever seen.”…
U.S. Wastes Millions On Base In Afghanistan It Will Never Use
Hayes Brown, “U.S. Wastes Millions On Base In Afghanistan It Will Never Use“, ThinkProgress, Jul 10 2013
The United States military spent millions of dollars on a shining new command center in the Helmand province of Afghanistan — a center that will never be used and is now likely to be completely demolished.
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Press Release: WHO/UNEP strongly endorse need to regulate as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) identified as ‘global threat’
Press Release, Immediate release, Alliance for Cancer Prevention, 20/2/13
WHO/UNEP strongly endorse need to regulate as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) identified as ‘global threat’.
A new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) comprehensively reviews the state of the science on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). It outlines the very serious and immediate threat to human health and wildlife from EDCs and signals the urgent need for effective regulation and testing of these chemicals.
The report estimates that as much as 24% of human diseases and disorders are due at least in part to environmental factors which include chemical exposures. “Many endocrine diseases and disorders are on the rise and the speed at which they are increasing rules out genetic factors as the sole plausible explanation”.
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What We Can Learn from America’s First Tea Party About Countering Corporate Power
Thom Hartmann, “What We Can Learn From America’s First Tea Party About Countering Corporate Power“, Yes! Magazine, July 04 2013
Before there was Citizens United, a modern Tea Party movement, or national momentum to ban corporate personhood, Thom Hartmann shows that resistance to corporate power is just as patriotic as Boston’s original Tea Party.
On a cold November day, activists gathered in a coastal town. The corporation had gone too far, and the two thousand people who’d jammed into the meeting hall were torn as to what to do about it. Unemployment was exploding and the economic crisis was deepening; corporate crime, governmental corruption spawned by corporate cash, and an ethos of greed were blamed. “Why do we wait?” demanded one at the meeting, a fisherman named George Hewes. “The more we delay, the more strength is acquired” by the company and its puppets in the government. “Now is the time to prove our courage,” he said. Soon, the moment came when the crowd decided for direct action and rushed into the streets.
That is how I tell the story of the Boston Tea Party, now that I have read a first-person account of it. Continue reading
The British nuclear stockpile, 1953–2013
Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen, “The British nuclear stockpile, 1953–2013“, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July/August 2013, 69 (4)
Recent research has revealed new facts about the British nuclear arsenal over a 25-year period starting in 1953. This accounting and the authors’ own research support an estimate that the British produced about 1,250 nuclear warheads between 1953 and 2013. From a peak of about 500 warheads in the period between 1974 and 1981, the UK arsenal has now been reduced to some 225 weapons.
Europe’s guns, debt and corruption
Frank Slijper, “Europe’s guns, debt and corruption“, Open Democracy, 27 April 2013
As social infrastructure is being slashed throughout most of Europe, spending on weapon systems has hardly been reduced. Perversely, military lobbyists warn of ‘disaster’ if any further cuts are made to military spending. But the real disaster has emerged from years of high military spending and corrupt arms deals. This second of two essays on military spending and the EU crisis, explores the role of the European arms trade, corruption and the role of arms exporting countries in fuelling a debt crisis, and why these ‘odious’ debts need to be written off.
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Austerity in Europe? Tighten the military belt
Frank Slijper, “Austerity in Europe? Tighten the military belt“, Open Democracy, 6 May 2013
Five years into the economic crisis in Europe and the elephant in the room is the role of military spending in causing and perpetuating the economic crisis. As social infrastructure is slashed, spending on weapon systems has hardly been reduced. Part one of two essays on military spending and the EU crisis.
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Military spending and the EU crisis infographic
(Source: Transnational Institute, http://www.tni.org/article/military-spending-and-eu-crisis-infographic)
Solving malnutrition through business and science?
Graham Harrison, “Solving malnutrition through business and science?“, Progressive Development Forum, 8 July 2013
There is in this hunger agenda a salient reshaping of how hunger is perceived and also how it is embedded into a broader model of political economy. The meeting fed into a broader process of elite institutionalisation of the ‘hunger problem’. In essence, the schema outlined above depoliticises hunger and positions international capital as the central agency in the solution to hunger. This, to say the least, requires some critical reflection.
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“It is an insult to claim that poverty is caused by people choosing unemployment” – the Archbishop of York
“Poverty Is Not About Scroungers Versus Strivers, Church Of England Bishops Say“, The Huffington Post UK, 08/07/2013
Presenting poverty and unemployment as a question of “scroungers versus strivers” is both inaccurate and an insult, Church of England bishops have said.
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, called for the Church to resist “rhetoric” that accuses people of choosing a life of idle dependence on the welfare state.
“It is an insult to claim that poverty in this country is caused by people choosing unemployment,” he told members of the General Synod.
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With two wars ending, the “defense” industry sets its sights on its next chance to hit pay dirt: The U.S. border
Joshua Holland, “An ‘ungodly stupid’ get-rich scheme: The real border security story“, Salon, Jul 6 2013
Last week, John McCain gleefully announced that the Senate immigration bill would result in the “most militarized border since the fall of the Berlin Wall.” Indeed, an amendment authored by Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., authorizes a massive increase in border security dollars — including $30 billion for hiring and training 19,000 new border patrol officers over the next 10 years, and over $13 billion for a “comprehensive Southern border strategy” (including 700 miles of high-tech fencing).
Global protest grows as citizens lose faith in politics and the state
Peter Beaumont, “Global protest grows as citizens lose faith in politics and the state“, The Observer, 22 June 2013
Tali Hatuka, an Israeli urban geographer, whose book on the new forms of protest will be published next year, identifies the mass mobilisations against the Iraq war in 2003 as a turning point in how people protest. Hatuka argues that, while previous large public protests had tended to be focused and narrow in their organisation, the Iraq war protests saw demonstrations in 800 cities globally which encompassed and tolerated a wide variety of outlooks. Continue reading
Drones More Deadly for Civilians Than Manned Aircraft
Spencer Ackerman, “US drone strikes more deadly to Afghan civilians than manned aircraft“, The Guardian, 2 July 2013
A study conducted by a US military adviser has found that drone strikes in Afghanistan during a year of the protracted conflict caused 10 times more civilian casualties than strikes by manned fighter aircraft.
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American Enterprise Institute’s undisclosed source of foreign funding raises ethical and legal questions about AEI’s Taiwan-policy work
Eli Clifton, “The Secret Foreign Donor Behind the American Enterprise Institute“, The Nation, June 25, 2013
The right-wing think tank received big money from Taiwan’s government at the same time that it was churning out policy papers and articles urging US military aid to Taipei.
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has emerged as one of the Beltway’s most consistent advocates for the sale of advanced fighter jets to Taiwan. Previously undisclosed tax filings reveal that while issuing research reports and publishing articles on US-Taiwan relations, AEI received a $550,000 contribution from the government of Taiwan, a source of funding the think tank has never acknowledged.
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Event: Tax and the Civilised Society (8 June 2013)
Saturday 8th June proved to be a truly enjoyable day – two movies plus great discussions and a walk through the quiet streets of the City of London, with all its formidable architecture, bathed in glorious sunshine was a welcome bonus. We had great feedback all round – from walkers to audiences and participants too. What stood out? The quality and depth of the debate and discussion.
PINK TO PREVENTION: Cancer Prevention ~ A Toxic Tour ~
London, Saturday 29th June 12-2pm The Alliance for Cancer Prevention and Tipping Point Film Fund in association with The Organic Pharmacy have come together around a programme of events designed to increase the debate and public awareness on the links between breast cancer, the workplace and the wider environment. These events have included two film screenings of PINK RIBBONS INC – one hosted by TPFF and most recently, by the Organic Pharmacy. As part of the Pink to Prevention programme of activity, on Saturday 29th June we are organising a walk with a difference… Cancer Prevention: A Toxic tour. The locations will be centred on the Victoria and Westminster area of London and will have a particular focus on breast cancer. Continue reading
PINK TO PREVENTION: Cancer Prevention ~ A Toxic Tour
PINK TO PREVENTION:
Cancer Prevention ~ A Toxic Tour ~
London, Saturday 29th June 12-2pm
The Alliance for Cancer Prevention and Tipping Point Film Fund in association with The Organic Pharmacy have come together around a programme of events designed to increase the debate and public awareness on the links between breast cancer, the workplace and the wider environment. These events have included two film screenings of PINK RIBBONS INC – one hosted by TPFF and most recently, by the Organic Pharmacy.
As part of the From Pink to Prevention programme of activity, on Saturday 29th June we are organising a walk with a difference… Cancer Prevention: A Toxic tour. The locations will be centred on the Victoria and Westminster area of London and will have a particular focus on breast cancer.
Audio, transcripts and photos of the tour is available here.
From Pink to Prevention Campaign – find out more here.
The Walk – what is a ‘Toxic Tour’?!
No running, no fundraising- just a ‘what do you know?’ tour giving you the lowdown on why we need to tackle environmental and occupational links to a disease that affects an increasing number of women of all ages. The alternative tourist-health walk takes in green spaces, shops and parliament. It will give you a whole new perspective on how you can learn more and influence the key players in the breast cancer debate in the effort to get them to take on board a much ignored aspect – the environment around us, from our first environment the womb, through our work and lived environments. By address the issue of breast cancer prevention we will look at all cancers connected to environmental and occupational exposures
The notion of the ‘toxic tours’ originated in the USA with tours held annually in San Francisco and the ‘bucket brigades’ which held tours to test the air quality around nearby industries which was harming community health. The tours advocate for civil rights and environmental justice. The first ‘toxic tour’ in the UK was organised by Helen Lynn and the Women’s Environmental Network (WEN) and held in London. Subsequent tours were held in Wales with WEN Wales and Scotland in conjunction with WEN Scotland. This is the second tour of this kind in London, linking environmental and occupational links to cancers in general and breast cancer in particular.
The Route
The route will cover your daily life; the wider environment; the workplace and the political dimension to this debate. It will take place in green spaces, shops, government departments and parliament; and finally, the Emmeline Pankhurst Statue in Westminster. It will last approximately 2 hours and starting point is Christchurch Gardens, Victoria by the Suffragette Statue for 12 noon. The tour will leave commemorative blue plaques to mark our visit illustrating that cancer prevention does not live in the related tour visit sites.
Booking Information:
The walk is free, but we need RSVPs in advance if possible. Please email
info@tippingpointfilmfund.com with email subject: RSVP Toxic Tour
Speakers and Contributors
Prof Andrew Watterson (University of Stirling)
Prof. Watterson is the Director of the Centre for Public Health and Population Health Research, at the University of Stirling, Scotland where he also heads up the Occupational and Environmental Health Research Group. His interests include occupational cancer prevention, fracking and biomass hazards, regulation of hazards and risks, costs of occupational diseases, PAR and lay epidemiology. He has acted as an adviser to the World Health Organisation and is on the editorial boards of IJOEH and Environmental Health.
Dr Ana Porroche-Escudero
Ana is a dedicated activist and educator on gender and health. She has initiated workshops and campaigns on gender violence and is fascinated by the powerful combination of activism, art and innovative methods. She is a member of the Breast Cancer Consortium Advisory Board which is an international platform dedicated to changing the conversation on breast cancer through public and scientific discussions. She is currently organising a series of sessions on Breast Cancer Awareness in Brighton and recently showed the film Pink Ribbons Inc there along with other committed activists. She is an associate tutor at the University of Sussex.
Helen Lynn (Alliance for Cancer Prevention)
Helen has campaigned on cancer prevention since 1995 and is a freelance campaigner/ researcher at Wildcard Research. She worked as Health Co-ordinator for 12 years at the Women’s Environmental Network and as co-director. Helen has worked at local, national and international levels on issues connection women’s health and the environment they live and work in. She was co-founder of the Alliance for Cancer Prevention, which campaigns for the recognition of environmental and occupational risk factors for cancer.
Hilda Palmer (Hazards Campaign)
Co-ordinator of Greater Manchester Hazards Centre, Chair of Hazards Campaign and facilitator of Families against Corporate Killing (FACK). Hilda organises the annual Hazards Conference which is the UK’s biggest educational and organising event for trade union safety reps and activists. Hilda works and campaigns tirelessly against injustice, and for equality, better health and safety at work, in the environment and community.
Maria Arnold (Client Earth)
Maria works at ClientEarth, leading the Healthy Air Campaign which combines work to engage communities at the local level with policy advocacy at a UK level. Previously Health Policy Analyst at the Sustainable Development Commission, she has worked to embed sustainable policy and practices within the NHS and Department of Health, with a particular emphasis on the link between health and the environment. She has also managed environmental and public health projects at Southwark Council.
Nick Mole (PAN UK)
Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) is the only organisation that works on every aspect of global pesticide issues including threats to the environment and human health from their use. He is the policy officer with PAN UK. He works on UK and EU issues that includes trying to stop the use of bee toxic pesticides, encourage London’s parks and green spaces to go pesticide free and advise the public on health issues related to pesticide exposure.
Deborah Burton (Tipping Point Film Fund)
Deborah co-founded TPFF in 2009 to provide support to theatrical feature documentaries, with integrated campaign outreach on global issues and has worked on the breast cancer prevention issue for many years.
Partners
About: The Alliance for Cancer Prevention
Formed in 2009, the Alliance is a multi-stakeholder group which includes representatives from; NGOs, environmental and occupational health organisations, trade unions, public health advocates and civil society groups, working together on cancer prevention. The Alliance aims to challenge the existing perception of control and treatment of cancer being the best way forward and get equal recognition for primary prevention. We work to ensure that the cancer establishment acknowledges the environmental and occupational risk factors for preventable cancers. Alliance members campaign on issues independently and join together to work collectively and strategically to identify the interconnection between the environmental, occupational, social factors and the combined exposures. http://www.allianceforcancerprevention.org.uk
The Organic Pharmacy
The Organic Pharmacy was founded by Margo Marrone – a pharmacist and homeopath who first became aware of chemical overload on the human body during the 1990s. She opened her first Organic Pharmacy store in London in 2002 to address this ever growing concern about harmful chemicals in cosmetics and built the business on the principles of honesty, integrity, purity, quality and green environmental thinking. Ten years on it is still a family run business and one that has supported campaigns addressing environmental links to breast cancer. http://www.theorganicpharmacy.com/
From Pink to Prevention ~ what do we mean?
Despite the overwhelming presence of the Pink Ribbon and all its (global) attendant activities, environmental and occupational links to breast cancer struggle to be included in the debate. Why is this? What stands in the way of these critical elements being discussed?
As the disease reaches ‘epidemic’ proportions where more and more women face a diagnosis of breast cancer and far too many women lose their lives to the disease, are we doing the very best we can to ensure the debate addresses ALL possible causes of the disease? The time has come for all the key players – cancer charities, industry, drugs companies, the medical fraternity and government (whom many campaigners and authors describe as ‘the cancer establishment’) to recognise and acknowledge the role of environmental and occupational factors in this complex disease. This means doing something about it. The Alliance for Cancer Prevention wants to see environmental and occupational risk factors for breast and other cancers included and addressed in the National Cancer plans and strategies on cancer throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Why a ‘ toxic tour’ now?
We want you to take a tour through the dark and murky back streets of breast cancer politics. Learn about why rates of the disease have risen by 90% over the last 40 years yet little is being done to prevent it. Gain a new perspective on why certain occupations carry with them an increased risk of breast cancer, up to 5 times the average rate. Hear about why breast cancer is a 21st century disease, an epidemic of our time and how it is related to not just our lifestyle – which accounts for less than 30%-50% of the cases – but is connected to a cocktail of toxic chemicals that begins through exposure in the womb and persists forever after – pre and post birth in our living and working environments.
Wonder why this 21st century disease is still being addressed with an 18th century solution, question who is financially benefitting from breast and other cancers and investigate the long-standing inaction on this issue by the cancer establishment. Boldly go where no one has gone before and understand what primary prevention means and how a life-long low level exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals, carcinogens, and other chemicals and substances linked to breast and other cancers need to be more widely known about and acted upon.
Audio, transcripts and photos of the tour is available here.
From Pink to Prevention Campaign – find out more here.
MORE INFORMATION
There are many ways to get more involved in learning about environmental and occupational links to breast cancer. Everything from simply informing yourself better, through to thinking twice about the products you buy, to taking action, as a concerned worker, consumer and citizen.
LEARN MORE
Read about the history, politics, economics, and social aspects of breast cancer and the health care system – Pink Ribbons, Inc. by Samantha King is a good place to start. http://breastcancerconsortium.net/resources/further-reading/ and http://allianceforcancerprevention.org.uk/resources/
Evaluate health news stories with a critical eye. Health News Review provides excellent criteria on what consumers need to know in stories on treatments, tests, products, and procedures and why. http://www.healthnewsreview.org/
COSMETICS: Organic Pharmacy
Pay attention to what is in the products you buy—to check out cosmetics ingredients
http://www.theorganicpharmacy.com/Images/Content/ExpertAdvice/FactSheets/Files/462.pdf
http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/chemicals-linked-to-breast-cancer/cosmetics/
http://www.wen.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/CarefulBeautyChecklist2.pdf
CONSUMER AND OCCUPATIONAL: Alliance for Cancer Prevention
Find out about issues linking cancer to exposures in the home, workplace and wider environment
Hazards Website http://www.hazards.org/diyresearch/index.htm
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs): http://www.edc-free-europe.org/
ChemTrust / EDCs and Breast Cancer http://www.chemtrust.org.uk/breastcancer.php
PINKWASHING
Think Before You Pink™, a project of Breast Cancer Action. http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/?page_id=12
TAKE ACTION
As well as getting more informed on all these issues you can also find out more about what your elected representatives are doing and try asking some basic questions!
- Ask your MP why environmental and occupational risk factors for breast cancer are NOT included in all national cancers plans and strategies right across England, Wales, Scotland Northern Ireland
- Write to your MEP voicing your concern about the lack of proper regulation in connection with toxic chemicals such as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) linked to breast cancer in consumer products.
- Visit the recommended websites for vital information on how you can take action and follow up campaign information.
Disclaimer: Please note this tour is a purely voluntary initiative, no funding was received to run the tour or none of those involved contributed anything to the event bar their time. All the speakers are contributing freely of their time and the organisers are all volunteers.
Tipping Point North South 