Greenpeace said yesterday it had evidence that Barbie doll packaging comes from Indonesian rainforests, accusing toy manufacturers such as Mattel Inc and Walt Disney Co of contributing to the country’s rapid deforestation.
On Tuesday, Greenpeace activists dressed as Ken dolls rappelled down the side of Mattel headquarters near Los Angeles to unfurl a banner saying Barbie packaging contributes to rainforest destruction.
The massive pink-and-blue sign on the Mattel building featured a frowning Ken declaring: “Barbie, it’s over. I don’t date girls that are into deforestation.”
“Barbie is trashing rainforests and pushing critically endangered wildlife, like tigers, towards extinction,” Bustar Maitar, head of Greenpeace’s campaign to save the forests in Indonesia, said in Jakarta.
“Mattel, which makes Barbie, must stop wrapping the world’s most famous toy in rainforest destruction,” he added.
Greenpeace said its investigators used forensic testing that showed Barbie’s packaging comes from Indonesian rainforests.
Activists also used “in country” investigation, mapping data and traced company certificates to show that Mattel, along with other toy companies — including Disney — were using packaging produced by Indonesian paper firm Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), which Greenpeace accuses of destroying rainforests.
Mattel , the world’s biggest toy firm by revenue, said in a written statement that it had been in communication with Greenpeace on a variety of paper sourcing issues.
It was not immediately clear what percentage of Mattel’s paper packaging comes from APP.
Responding to Greenpeace, APP said its products meet the legal requirements for all countries, including Indonesia.
“It is our responsibility to adhere strictly to these laws, not to satisfy the unreasonable and groundless demands of a foreign-based NGO [non-governmental organization],” the statement added.
“We believe it’s irresponsible to play on the emotions of children and their parents to rehash old, discredited allegations in order to attack the industry of a developing nation,” it said.
APP added that the product attacked by Greenpeace contained 96 percent recycled material.
The firm has set a goal of 100 percent sustainable plantation pulp wood by 2015.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS