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Strathclyde University Department of Geography and Sociology Bans Coca-Cola and Nestle
For Immediate Release
October 3, 2005
Contact:
David Miller +44 141 548 3794 (w) and +44 7786 927 551 (m) (Scotland)
Glasgow: At its first meeting of the academic year,
the Department of Geography and Sociology at Strathclyde University
decided to adopt an ethical purchase policy with a presumption in
favour of fair trade products. In addition, the Department resolved
to boycott products made by two of the world's most controversial corporations:
Coca-Cola and Nestle.
The Head of Department, Professor David Miller noted that "Nestle
have repeatedly refused to put their house in order in relation to
marketing baby milk in the developing world, resulting in the needless
deaths of many thousands of babies. Coca-Cola continues to refuse to
respond to the issues raised about their involvement in Colombia by
the Colombian Food and Drinks Union SINALTRAINAL. In India they continue
to ignore the wishes of local communities and operate plants which
diminish ground water and poison surrounding areas. This boycott is
part of our ethical purchasing policy, but we also hope it will send
a signal that corporations cannot simply ignore their responsibilities
to local communities."
The departmental decision takes place against the background of the
mounting campaign by students in Britain and Ireland to remove Coca-Cola products from Students Unions. It follows a guest lecture to students
in the Department last year by Amit Srivastava of the India Resource
Centre, an international campaigning organization, and Edgar Paez
of the International affairs department of SINALTRAINAL, the Colombian
food and drinks union.
"I welcome the departmental decision to boycott Coke and Nestle,"
said Professor Miller. "I hope that other academic departments will
take similar decisions and that this might contribute towards University
decisions to remove Coca-Cola from campuses across the UK."
For more information:
Colombia Solidarity Campaign http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk
Killer Coke http://www.killercoke.org
India Resource Center http://www.indiaresource.org
Baby Milk Action http://www.babymilkaction.org
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