Guess what David Cameron got for Christmas?
A fortune cookie laced with Asbestos?
No, it was a gift wrapped box of Asbestos, apparently!
Dame Vivienne Westwood and Santa Claus joined forces to hand deliver an Asbestos Christmas present to the UK Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron at no. 10 Downing Street. All in the name of driving home the dangers of Fracking. The British public should be pleased!
A recently published Annual report, Innovation Risk, Managing it, Not Avoiding it, by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir Mark Walport, which compares the potential health risks of Fracking with those of asbestos and thalidomide, was also hand delivered:
‘Walport’s report says: “History presents plenty of examples of innovation trajectories that later proved to be problematic — for instance involving asbestos, benzene, thalidomide, dioxins, lead in petrol, many pesticides, mercury, chlorine and endocrine-disrupting compounds…”’1.
More from Telegraph UK:
“Though the box of asbestos, which was carried by a gas mask-wearing Santa Claus, was not allowed through the Downing Street gates, Westwood and Corre were allowed to deliver a dossier of “independent medical reports” on the consequences of fracking.”
(Umm, why does it bother me when people use gas-masks for publicity stunts? Oh well, guess it’s for a good cause and all; ergo, best leave ours at home next time, hey? If we want to be taken seriously, that is.)
Kindly, they also gave Cameron a Christmas card to go with his Asbestos. A part of which read:
“Dear David,
… Although you have no democratic mandate to foist fracking onto the British people, or to sweep away our protections under civil law in order to allow drilling companies to drill under our homes, schools and environment without our consent, this is precisely what you are doing.
Please take some time over the festive period to consider the legacy that your decisions as Prime Minister will have on the British people and our green and pleasant land. We don’t want fracking to be the next Asbestos or Thalidomide, and we’re sure you wouldn’t want that on your hands either.
Wishing you a merry Christmas
Talk Fracking”
Inside the card was an open letter signed by 150 high profile individuals and organisations including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Naomi Klein, End Ecocide EU, Sir Paul McCartney, his daughter Stella, Yoko Ono, Helena Bonham Carter, Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Greta Scacchi, Sir John Elliot Gardiner, Bianca Jagger, Lily Cole, Thom Yorke, Russell Brand, Vanessa Redgrave and Sir Antony Gormley; calling for an immediate suspension of fracking in the UK.
You can watch the Fracas surrounding the fracking and Cameron below:
More
From TalkFracking: What is Fracking?
References
1. Innovation Risk, Managing it, Not Avoiding it, by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir Mark Walport
‘Asbestos fortune cookie’ image source: Redkid
With Fracking I see a natural disaster lurking in the wings. I look at China and I see what the rest of our world would look like if we didn’t have the right to demand responsible leadership.
Scary thought. The health of environment needs to be more important than the health of our economy so that we, the people, and the earth can sustain health.