Few Americans are aware that their country’s horses are being exported and slaughtered abroad – often in appalling conditions – to supply European taste for a meat that’s shunned at home. Andrew Wasley reports Herded down a concrete shute, the horses — black and brown and grey; fat, healthy, thin, lame — have little idea […]
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Special report: the truth about Thai prawns
By Jim Wickens These days we pick up a packet of frozen prawns from the supermarket almost without thinking. They’re healthy, flavour-some and cheap enough to count as an affordable treat, perhaps on a skewer for a barbecue or daintily arranged for a dinner party starter. If we give even a moment’s thought about where […]
On the frontline of Poland’s fracking rush
Poland stands on the brink of a boom in fracking for shale gas –but will it be an environmental curse, or an economic blessing? Andrew Wasley reports from Gdansk Chris Faulkner is an oil man. From Dallas, Texas. And his company, Breitling Oil and Gas, is a major player in the burgeoning shale gas sector. […]
Fracking hell: the big picture
A unique collaboration between the Ecologist Film Unit and Link TV lifts the lid on fracking and the shale gas boom sweeping into Europe and beyond… Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process that injects water, sand, and chemicals into underground rock (usually shale) at high pressure to extract natural gas. But it is highly […]
The deadly cost of smartphones
An investigation by the Ecologist Film Unit and NGO Friends of the Earth has linked mining for tin for use in the manufacture of smartphones to a number of environmental problems on the Indonesian island of Bangka. And research has shown how leading smartphone brands ‘almost certainly’ use tin originating from the island. Read the […]
The slavery behind our seafood
The tropical shrimp industry in Thailand exploits both people and the environment, a major new Ecologist investigation has revealed. The film, produced in association with Link TV and Swedwatch, highlights how so-called ‘trash fish’ is caught by Thai trawlers operating – sometimes illegally – in foreign waters before being ground into fishmeal for use in farmed […]
Blood fish: why prawns should be blacklisted from all our shopping baskets
A new investigation has revealed appalling labour conditions for Burmese migrants working onboard boats supplying ‘trash fish’ for use in feed given to farmed prawns. But this is just the latest scandal to engulf the global shrimp industry, says Andrew Wasley A disturbing new investigation by the Ecologist has shone a light on the appalling labour conditions […]
Illegal trade in shellfish risks our health
An underground trade in shellfish is putting the health of consumers at risk with tonnes of potentially contaminated seafood feared to be entering the food chain, an investigation by The Ecologist and The Independent has revealed. The scale of the illicit – and highly lucrative – trade has alarmed health officials and fisheries protection bodies who say they lack […]
Revealed: the prescription drugs most likely to harm or kill us
Official data suggests antidepressants, antipsychotics, stop smoking drugs, vaccines against swine flu and even paracetamol cause adverse drug reactions. So just how safe are they? Andrew Wasley & Bethany Hubbard report A drug used to treat schizophrenia and thought disturbances in patients with Parkinson’s disease is the medicine most likely to harm or kill you […]
Blood harvest: the hidden cost of Italy’s soft drinks trade
The Ecologist Film Unit recently travelled to Calabria in Southern Italy to investigate claims that the seasonal orange harvest makes use of African migrants, many of them paid poverty wages and living in squalid conditions. The region’s oranges are frequently bought by multinational food and drink companies for use as juices or concentrates, often ending […]
