Friends of the Earth: Press Release: BILL AND BEN TAKE PEAT PROTEST TO CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

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BILL AND BEN TAKE PEAT PROTEST TO CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

21 May 1998

Bill and Ben will today [Thursday 21 May 1998] attend the Chelsea Flower Show to urge gardeners to avoid using peat. The campaigning flowerpot men will highlight the destructive nature of the commercial peat industry, and recommend that gardeners use one of the many peat-free alternatives instead. Eighteen of our finest wildlife sites - Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) - are threatened by commercial peat extraction. The vast majority of this is used by gardeners. Today is the first day that the general public can attend the show [3].

As well as asking gardeners to avoid peat-based products, Friends of the Earth is also calling on the Government to take firm action. Since Labour came to power nothing has been done to curb the extraction of peat despite strong statements when in opposition [1].The UK's largest lowland peatlands Thorne and Hatfield Moors and many other SSSIs remain under threat [2].

Matt Phillips of Friends of the Earth said:
"If gardeners really want to have green fingers they should avoid peat-based products. Many of those visiting Chelsea today already cut out peat because they know its extraction damages the environment and contributes nothing to the garden that couldn't be matched by non-peat products."

"Companies such as Levingtons are literally ripping off our finest peatlands and wildlife is paying the price. Astonishingly the Government is doing nothing to stop this destructive trade. We need new wildlife laws to protect our best peatlands and a peat tax to make the many alternatives to peat more attractive to consumers."

ENDS
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NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] In a major Opposition policy statement, Labour promised: "We serve notice on the peat extraction industry that unless there is a voluntary agreement to reduce peat extraction substantially and promote alternatives, we shall introduce a strict fiscal and/or regulatory regime." (The Labour Party and Peat Extraction,1992). It also promised green taxes including removing VAT from peat alternatives (A Budget for the Environment, 1991). But in a recent letter to the Peatlands Campaign Consortium, a senior civil servant from the Department of Environment's European Wildlife Division blithely stated that: "with regard to the 1992 Labour policies on peat extraction, these will not necessarily read forward to the current administration." Labour gave no indication of a change in its policies on peat until it took office.

[2] Some peat facts:
.18 SSSIs are under threat from the peat industry either directly through extraction of peat of by peat extraction threatening the hydrological integrity of the SSSIs.
.Only 6 per cent of lowland raised bogs remain in a near natural state.
.Lowland raised bogs are home to species such as the hairy canary fly, sundews, sphagnum mosses,breeding birds such as nightjar and thousands more
.Alternative growing media to peat are widely available.
.
Taking peat from SSSIs is perfectly legal. Existing wildlife laws only allow for the revocation of peat extraction permissions through the payment of large sums in compensation.

[3] The organisers of the Chelsea Flower Show, the Royal Horticultural Society, discourage exhibitors from using peat in their displays.

[4] Visit Friends of the Earth's Wildplaces! website for details of threatened/damaged SSSIs across Great Britain.

Contact details:

Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ

Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html

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