UK news archive

30.07.2004 New research shows that up to 220 young children a day could have been exposed to potentially dangerous pesticide levels from eating just one apple or pear and that internationally agreed safety levels on pesticides can be breached even when the legal limits were met. Imported produce was more likely to contain high pesticide levels than homegrown fruit.

29.07.2004 Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, has been reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over its marketing of Nan HA “hypoallergenic” infant formula for using claims that campaigners describe as “misleading and dangerous”. Legal action was taken by authorities in the US over similar claims after infants suffered anaphylactic shock after being fed on the formula.

29.07.2004 Families of Iraqi civilians allegedly killed by British troops have begun a legal battle with implications for future military operations in foreign countries. Lawyers for the families argued that the soldiers' actions in Iraq are covered by the Human Rights Act and that an independent inquiry must be set up to decide whether the killings were unlawful.

29.07.2004 British Energy, the country's biggest operator of nuclear power stations, breached environmental regulations 21 times during 2003 and has been told that its failures are "unacceptable". The government's chief environment watchdog has written to directors of BE and told them to make "major improvements in management, systems and culture".

28.07.2004 Eleven leading refugee, human rights and legal organisations have set out the fundamental principles for a new asylum system, publishing a new report Refugees: Renewing the Vision. The proposals centre on ensuring that protection is granted to those whose safety would be at risk if they were returned to their country of origin.

27.07.2004 The Environment Agency has called for tougher fines on businesses that breach environmental regulations, in a report published today. The move has been welcomed by campaigners, but they say the government must put tougher social and environmental duties on company directors. The report highlights farming, waste and water as having the highest potential impact on the environment.

26.07.2004 A nuclear fuel factory which was personally approved by Tony Blair has so far cost the taxpayer more than £600m - and rising - without producing a single saleable item. The factory at Sellafield in Cumbria was designed to process plutonium and uranium from used nuclear fuel rods to power reactors for overseas customers of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) but is eight years behind schedule.

26.07.2004 Campaigners have cautiously welcomed the publication of new laws on access to environmental information but argue that the new legislation does not go far enough and may not meet the requirements laid down by European law. The regulations will come into force on 1 January 2005 to coincide with the "right to know" provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

23.07.2004 The UK government will seek emergency European legislation to ban the UK pair trawling fishery, which is responsible for hundreds of dolphin deaths every year. The decision follows a campaign involving the launch of a legal challenge and the delivery of a dead dolphin encased in ice left on the government's doorstep. Pair trawling involves the dragging of a huge net between two boats.

12.07.2004 300 symbolic guns were destroyed in London last week by parents who have lost children to armed violence. International campaigners have joined forces with domestic campaigning groups Mothers Against Guns and the Gun Control Network to show how the arms trade impacts on gun crime in the UK as well as overseas. The groups want the UK government to back an international Arms Trade Treaty.

12.07.2004 The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has criticised new proposals that could become law this week after minimal discussion by MPs. The proposals, put forward under the Asylum and Immigration Bill’s third reading, breach the rights of asylum seekers and in some cases of UK nationals, the JCWI claims.

09.07.2004 A coalition of UK development agencies staged a protest outside Parliament this week calling for a rise in aid spending. The protest, ahead of next Monday’s comprehensive spending review, saw hundreds of red balloons released into the sky above Westminster. The coalition is campaigning for the UK government to pledge 0.7% of the UK’s gross national income to fight global poverty. More from Oxfam about the 0.7% campaign and what you can do.

08.07.2004 The Scarweather Sands offshore windfarm in Swansea Bay has passed one of the last remaining hurdles to provide clean energy to South Wales, in a decision that was applauded by environmentalists. Popular among local residents – supported by 54% of respondents in a poll, while only 14% said they were opposed – the windfarm will produce enough electricity to supply 80,000 homes.

07.07.2004 79 per cent of people in Great Britain, and 83 per cent of Europeans, are concerned about the build-up of chemicals in the bodies of people and wildlife, according to an opinion poll conducted on behalf of WWF. The poll was taken to inform the UK government's consultation on the proposed new European Union chemicals law.

06.07.2004 British television coverage of the developing world has slumped to its lowest level since 1989, according to research commissioned by 3WE, a coalition that includes Oxfam, Save the Children, Voluntary Services Overseas and Christian Aid.

02.07.2004 The prospects of GM crops being grown in the UK look even more remote following reports yesterday that Anglo-Swiss GM firm Syngenta is to close its laboratories in Berkshire and move to the US. Campaigners welcomed the move and called on the company to switch its research efforts towards sustainable agriculture.

02.07.2004 MPs Don Foster - wearing a toilet seat to highlight the problems of unsafe water and unhygienic toilets - and Peter Bottomley have handed in 40,000 signatures of the Flush Out Poverty petition to the Treasury. They are urging Chancellor Gordon Brown to spend more money on safe water and sanitation for the world's poorest people.

01.07.2004 Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett is ramming home uncomfortable statistics on climate change among her cabinet colleagues and believes that next year will be pivotal for the international talks. Accepting that taxation and lifestyle changes are needed, she is urging the Prime Minister to take the lead.