Friends of the Earth, today, (Wednesday October 4th 1995) rejected a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which upheld complaints by the Brazilian Embassy and the Timber Trade Federation against a FOE cinema advertisement, Mahogany is Murder'.

The cinema advertisement [1] linked the mahogany trade between Brazil and the UK with the killings of tribal Indian people, and the destruction of wild animal and plant species, in Amazonia.

Friends of the Earth has provided the ASA with documented evidence of the murder of tribal Indians in Amazonia in recent years by loggers [2]

Charles Secrett, Director of FOE, said:

We're extremely surprised by the ASA's ruling which flies in the face of the known facts. We have provided objective evidence of documented killings of Indians in Amazonia by loggers over the past 10 years. Moreover we have supplied similar evidence of many cases where Indians have died from infectious diseases introduced by loggers.

We cannot understand why the ASA has ignored these independant findings. We will continue to fight to protect FOE's hard earned reputation for basing our camoaign on the facts.

After all, how many Indians must die as a result of the mahogany trade before the ASA allows Friends of the Earth to point out that Indians can pay with their lives'?"

ENDS

[1] The script of the advert is as follows:

It costs a lot to have a toilet seat made from the Earth's last mahogany trees. Mahogany furniture costs blood. If the Brazilian Indians who own the trees don't want to sell them they can pay with their lives. For native peoples, animals, plants and trees, mahogany is murder. Don't buy it. The killing won't stop until you take action'.

[2] Evidence presented by FOE included:

The Tikuna: On the 28th of March 1988 16 hired gunman, lead by the timber cutter Oscar Castello Branco, killed 14 Tikuna Indians in the State of Amazonas including some children, and wounded 22 others from a tribal group of some 100 Tikuna who were discussing how to prevent loggers cutting and stealing their mahogany trees. Despite the fact that the names of most of the gunmen are known, no-one has been prosecuted for these murders.

The Korubu: Since invasions by loggers began in 1986, at least 4 Korubu adults have been killed by loggers. In 1986, one Indian was murdered and another wounded when they encountered loggers on the Rio Branco, in western Amazonas. In November 1989, the bodies of three Korubu, authoritatively reported by the Catholic Church's Indigenous Council to have been murdered by timber cutters, were found at the confluence of the river Itui and Itacoai. In 1990, a film crew from the University of Brasilia discovered a team of 11 timber cutters entering the forest of the Korubu armed with shotguns, and claiming to be on an Indian hunt.

Only this week, FOE has received letters from the network of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin (COLAB) and the National Rubber Trappers Council saying that Indians and forest dwellers are dying at the hand of loggers whilst trying to protect their areas from invasion.

Deaths through introduced diseases

There are also many documented cases of Indians dying of diseases which are introduced by loggers and ranchers amongst other invaders, to which they have no immunity. Cases selected here include:

Uru Eu Wau Wau: In 1981, when this tribe was first contacted, they numbered 1,200. Ten years later the population had been reduced to half as timber cutters and other invaders had introduced the Indians to imported diseases.

Kulina: In 1991 12 of the 188 Kulina of the River Jurua in Amazonas died of whooping cough and malaria introduced by the invaders.

The Suri: In 1991 twenty percent of the adult population of the Surui of the Sete de Setembro Reserve in Rondonia were suffering from tuberculosis. The Indians are blaming the loggers for recent outbreaks which are severly depleting their numbers.

Nambikwara: 20 percent of the Hahaitesu-Namikwara from the State of Rondonia have died since 1987 through disease introduced by timber cutters and colonists.