| Sheridan 'was SSP's Lord Archer' The Tommy Sheridan perjury trial hears the former MSP compared to a shamed Conservative peer. bbc.co.uk |
Halloween hat row killers face life sentences for murder of IT worker Ben Gardner was punched to ground, where he lay helpless as one of the men kicked his head 'as if kicking a football'Three men were today facing life sentences for killing an IT expert after snatching his girlfriend's Halloween hat.Ben Gardner was punched to the ground, where he lay helpless as one of the men kicked his head "as if kicking a football".Allanna Devine, 28, was also punched in the attack on October 31 last year, the Old Bailey heard.Daniel Ransom, 21, 21-year-old Ross Collender and Jordan Dixon, 18, all of Carshalton, Surrey, were found guilty of murder by 11 to 1 majorities.Sarah Davey, 41, of Sutton, Surrey, was found not guilty of assisting an offender by harbouring Dixon.Gardner, a 30-year-old who worked for the Legal & General insurance firm, had been to a club with Devine to celebrate her birthday and Halloween.She was dressed in a pirate's outfit with a black wig and hat. He was wearing a black leather jacket and vampire fangs.In the early hours of the morning, Devine was waiting for Gardner outside a kebab shop in Sutton when a group of men snatched her black hat and wig.She broke down as she spoke of Gardner's last moments, saying: "My hat and my wig were taken from my head. I was not concerned about it because it was the end of the evening, but I did say: 'Can I have my hat back, please?'"I was greeted by jeering. They were very loud."After getting close to her flat nearby, she told Gardner what happened. She said: "Ben decided he was not happy that my wig and hat had been stolen, and he was going to approach the group about it."As he went off, the verbal abuse increased and she heard herself being called "a big fat moose" before she saw her boyfriend returning with her wig.Devine said she decided to approach a youth who was calling her names, and asked him: "What is your problem?"She continued: "I was hit in the face by him. I was fuming. I said: 'You are a big man to hit a woman.'"She told the court she was aware of Gardner behind her and the group "flared up". She remembered one of the men jumping up and down and taking his jacket off.Gardner said: "I am not a fighter but I have just seen someone hit my girlfriend, and I am not standing back and letting you hit my girlfriend."Devine said she could not remember the rest of the attack except hearing a friend scream."I ran back round to see Ben..."Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the court CCTV footage showed the incident unfold.He said: "As Devine went to pick up a black witch's hat which had been thrown by someone unconnected into the road, Dixon booted it away."Ransom kicked and stamped on it and, in a quite provocative and contemptuous act, spat in it and threw it at her."Then Collender "suddenly and unexpectedly" punched Gardner on the left side of the face, Altman said.As Gardner recoiled from the blow, he was punched by Dixon and fell on his back in the road.Altman said Ransom then kicked the "utterly defenceless" victim."This was a completely unjustified attack, an escalation of violence," he added. "Ben Gardner never stood a chance. He never laid a single finger on anyone."The reaction of Ransom and Collender was to run – big cheesy grins on their faces."Sean James, a witness, said: "I saw a punch being hurled. He stumbled. He got hit again. Then he hit the ground and he was lying in the road."Then another man kicked him in the head. It was very ferocious, as if he was kicking a football."While he was on the floor, another man – I think it was someone who previously punched him – did an arm movement and said 'It's over, you are out'."Gardner died in the early hours of 1 November from "catastrophic brain damage".The three were remanded in custody to be sentenced on Friday. Judge Richard Hone said they would be jailed for life but he had to fix a minimum term.Devine wept uncontrollably at the back of the court as a statement by Gardner's father, David, was heard.It said: "I cannot forgive these people for what they have done. They have destroyed me and my family for the rest of our lives."Crimeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Probiotic health claims ruled unproven European Food Safety Authority says claims regarding immune system and digestive health lack sound scientific basisThe food industry's probiotics sector, worth £200m a year in the UK, was called in to question today by a new European ruling that its health claims are unsupported by sound science.The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) posted its formal assessment of the merit of more than 800 health claims, including widely used assertions that probiotic products boost the immune system. The claims were submitted to the EFSA by the food industry and member statesMany of those on which the probiotic industry has based its advertising and marketing in recent years were ruled unproven by the EFSA's panel of independent scientists.The panel concluded that the evidence the industry had submitted to support its claims that various food additives could strengthen the body's defences, improve immune function and reduce gut problems were either so general as to be inadmissable, or could not be shown to have the claimed effect.In a separate ruling, the panel examined a dossier of 12 studies submitted by Yakult for its proprietary strain of probitoic bacteria, Lactobacillus casei shirota. It found that all were inadequate to support the company's claim that its products maintained immune defences against the common cold.Nearly 60% of UK households regularly buy probiotic drinks, but the market became established without any independent assessment of its claims and has drawn criticism from consumer groups.The gradual introduction of new EU regulations was finally agreed in 2007 as a result of pressure from consumer groups. They wanted food companies to be prevented from using health claims to sell products unless they had proved them first, and unless the products were deemed healthy enough overall to warrant claims of benefits. Under the new rules, member states were asked to submit health claims from manufacturers, along with dossiers of scientific evidence, for independent assessment by the EFSA.Britain's Food Standards Agency collected more than 4,000 claims from the UK industry; across Europe, some 44,000 claims were submitted. EFSA scientists, who were taken by surprise by the volume of claims, whittled these down to 4,000 for detailed assessment.The opinions published today were the lastest in a series of rulings. The EFSA had already published five opinions on claims relating to probiotics, all negative, although a spokeswoman said EFSA scientists "avoid using the term probiotics", since it has no proper scientific meaning.Danone, the market leader in probiotic products, withdrew its claims that Actimel and Activia boosted the immune system and aided digestive health from the EFSA process after the scientists' earlier negative rulings on other manufacturers' products. It has since dropped most of the "immune health" claims from its advertising, and it currently has just one technical claim awaiting EFSA assessment: that "fermented milk that contains the probiotic Lactobacillus casei reduces the presence of Clostridium difficile toxins in the gut associated with the incidence of acute diarrhoea".Today's EFSA rulings represent a serious blow to the food industry, which has invested heavily in new, so-called functional foods such as probiotics. These typcially sell for high margins, and enable manufacturers to differentiate their products from those of competitors in a crowded market. The EFSA did give some health claims favourable rulings, but they relate to vitamins and minerals for which the effects have long been known, such as the ability of iron to relieve anaemia.The industry has complained that the EFSA is applying excessively rigorous scientific standards when assessing the new claims. It has asked for a series of meetings to discuss the criteria.Yakult issued a statement saying its rejected claim was just one aspect of its research. "The claim was supported by well-designed, double-blind, placebo-controlled human studies," it said. "In response to the EFSA opinion, the company wishes to discuss the evaulation process and this outcome with EFSA. With the benefit of further guidance, the company anticipates a positive EFSA opinion in due course."HealthHealth & wellbeingFood & drink industryFood scienceFelicity Lawrenceguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Animal lab hate activists jailed Five animal rights activists are jailed for a hate campaign against people linked to Huntingdon Life Sciences animal testing laboratory. bbc.co.uk |
Industrial farming puts ecosystems at risk of collapse, warns Prince Charles Farming methods must be low-impact, organic and low-carbon to protect natural resources for the long termPrince Charles has warned that the world's ecosystems face collapse because of a dangerous over-reliance on industrial farming systems that work against nature rather than with it.In a speech to launch a new sustainable farming project with the supermarket chain Morrisons, the Prince of Wales said farming needed to shift quickly to low-impact, organic and low-carbon methods to survive into the long term. The prince directly attacked farms that "treat animals like machines by using industrial rearing systems". Although he did not mention it directly, his criticisms echo fears about the UK's first diary "super farm" planned for Lincolnshire, where 8,000 cows will produce milk 24 hours a day and will be housed in four open-sided barns. He also criticised the increasing use of "green" labelling and award schemes which failed to protect natural resources in the long term and which "contributes to the failure of the entire system upon which it depends."He said experts predicted that demand for food will rise by 50% by 2030, while humanity will also need 30% more water and 45% more energy. Fresh water supplies were finite and oil close to its peak. For every nine barrels of oil used today, only one barrel of readily exploitable oil was being found. "The mathematics do not exactly add up," he said. "We have to come up with a better way of producing our food that maintains the health of the earth's natural systems so that we work much more closely with them rather than so carelessly to spite them. And because we will have to do so in a commercial environment hounded by the spiralling cost of the diminishing oil supply it would pay us perhaps to do so quickly, now rather than later when it may be too late." He added: "So far we have enjoyed the considerable luxury of ignoring these things. We've tended to believe many of nature's services are free."Morrisons, which says it is the UK's second largest producer of fresh food and has about 12 million customers, is investing £2m on a new model farm at Dumfries House, the Palladian country house near Kilmarnock rescued for the nation when Prince Charles took out a £20m personal loan in 2007 to prevent its sale and its unique collection of furniture broken up. The farm will attempt to find new ways of being commercially viable and competitive as well as simultaneously sustainable, testing new low-energy farming techniques with minimal use of chemicals and improved, welfare-friendly breeding methods. It is expected to make a profit by 2014.Dalton Philips, the chief executive of Morrisons, said before the prince spoke that solely organic farming was not realistic, as it cost up to 40% more and was largely unaffordable for most consumers. Tax rises would increase the pressure on consumers, Philips said, yet he agreed with the Prince of Wales, that keeping food prices down was no longer realistic. "The long decline in food prices is at an end and we're already beginning to see it," he said. It was therefore essential that British agriculture became more sustainable and resilient.Prince Charles cited a "remarkable" report published by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in 2008 called The international assessment of agricultural knowledge, science and technology for development. Its conclusions, accepted by the UK government and 57 other countries, said the world had to change its farming techniques or face "social and economic collapse", he said. It encouraged low-impact and organic farming, and farms which were much less reliant on fossil fuels. It stated: "Business as usual is no longer an option."The prince added: "Let me just point out what sustainable farming is not. It is not dependent upon the use of chemical pesticides, fungicides and insectides. Sustainable farming does not rely upon artificial fertilisers and growth promoters, nor the prophilactic use of antibiotics. It does not create vast monocultures and treat animals like machines by using industrial rearing systems. It does not drink the earth dry, deplete the soil or drown streams in oxygen-sucking run-off. "On the contrary, sustainable farming maintains the resilience of the entire ecosystem by encouraging a rich level of biodiversity in the soil, in its water supply and in the wildlife: the birds, insects and bees that maintain the health of the whole system."FarmingFoodCarbon emissionsClimate changePesticidesOrganicsEthical and green livingConservationPrince CharlesSeverin Carrellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |