- Lebanon's Hezbollah in disarray after second wave of deadly blasts
- Equity markets, yen rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Meta and Spotify blast EU decisions on AI
- Hasan takes three as Bangladesh rattle India in first Test
- Two killed during police operation in New Caledonia
- Flood-hit region leaders to meet in Poland to discuss EU aid
- Sri Lanka to vote in first poll since economic collapse
- Hong Kong probe finds Cathay Airbus defect could cause 'extensive' damage
- AI development cannot be left to market whim, UN experts warn
- All Blacks primed for 'hell' of a Wallabies clash
- Japan firm says no longer makes radio reportedly used in Lebanon blasts
- Zoom fatigue? Try some nature in your background: study
- Boeing to start large-scale furloughs with Seattle strike talks stalled
- Japan walkie-talkie maker says investigating after Lebanon blasts
- Slipper to become most-capped Wallaby in All Blacks clash
- Tokyo surges on weak yen as Asian traders cheer big US rate cut
- Vast France building project sunk by sea level rise fears
- UK campaigners in green energy standoff reject 'nimby' label
- Rainbow warriors: Three things to watch at cycling world championships
- Lebanon's Hezbollah in disarray after second wave of device blasts
- China's 'full-time dads' challenge patriarchal norms
- What we know about the fire 'pandemic' plaguing Brazil
- X says Brazil service restoration 'inadvertent' and 'temporary'
- Amazon drought leaves Colombian border town high and dry
- Some Cubans depend on sugar water as food shortages bite
- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
A report by environmental and rights NGOs Tuesday linked three major meatpacking companies to illegal deforestation in Brazil, where farmers are accused of spraying herbicides from the sky to clear huge tracts of land.
The farmers used 2,4-D -- a herbicide found in "Agent Orange," infamously used in the Vietnam War -- to clear 81,200 hectares of the Pantanal wetland, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, said the report by Mighty Earth, Reporter Brasil and AidEnvironment.
Using "chemical deforestation," they thus cleared an area four times the size of Amsterdam for raising cattle in what is meant to be a sanctuary for biodiversity, it added.
The report accuses meatpackers JBS, Marfrig and Minerva of doing business with farmers engaged in the illegal actions.
They, in turn, supply beef products to retailers including Carrefour, Casino/GPA, Grupo Mateus and Sendas/Assai, it added.
"The deliberate killing of countless trees and wildlife in the Pantanal by aerial spraying of a highly toxic compound of 'Agent Orange' is a devastating new war on nature being waged by the beef industry," said Mighty Earth Brazil director Joao Goncalves.
Apart from killing plant life, the chemicals can contaminate water and endanger fish, animals, even human beings.
Vietnam blames Agent Orange, sprayed by US forces to destroy ground cover and food sources in their war with North Vietnamese troops from 1962 to 1971, for severe birth defects in 150,000 children.
One farmer implicated in the Pantanal "chemical deforestation" campaign has been charged with numerous environmental crimes and fined over $520 million.
- 'The biome cannot withstand' -
From 2009 to 2023 overall, the report said JBS slaughterhouses were linked to nearly 470,000 hectares of deforestation and land use conversion in the Brazilian Amazon and the Cerrado tropical savanna.
"Including Marfrig and Minerva Foods slaughterhouses, the total area destroyed over this period rises above 550,000 hectares. Of this total, 55 percent is located in the Cerrado biome and 45 percent in the Amazon," it said.
The NGO report was published as the Pantanal, the world's biggest wetland, battles devastating wildfires that have, among other things, injured a number of jaguars -- listed as "near threatened" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.
Authorities have said many of the fires were deliberately set, often to clear land for farming.
"The biome cannot withstand fire and rampant chemical deforestation," said Goncalves.
"The big beef companies need to urgently suspend all ranchers hell-bent on this destruction of nature for profit."
JBS in a response included in the report said the cases mentioned have not appeared in a database or an alert system it uses for monitoring.
The company added in a note to AFP that its policies do not "tolerate illegal deforestation."
Marfrig said that at the time it received cattle from a ranch mentioned in the report, the supplier had "met all the socio-environmental criteria."
Minerva said it had no business with the same farm.
Carrefour, for its part, said "none of the five farms mentioned is (a) supplier of the Carrefour Brazil group."
D.Cunningha--AMWN