Photo: www.banklands.com
We’ve honestly suspected stuff like this all along, and we still do. Manufacturers preach about how green they want to be and how efficient their cars are, but who really stops and asks where the raw materials for their products come from (very little comes from a manufacturer’s domestic market).
According to the Brazilian government, International Labour Organization and US Dept. of Labour, that many pig iron suppliers from the Brazilian state of Pará have been using forced labour and illegal deforestation within protected areas. With pig iron being a primary ingredient in the production of steel, and steel being a key ‘ingredient’ in any new car, the connection to auto manufacturers was pretty obvious. Also, pig iron is produced by burning massive quantities of charcoal which further damages the natural environment.
Ford, GM, BMW, Mercedes, Nissan and agricultural vehicle manufacturer John Deere have all been linked in one way or another to pig iron extraction in Brazil, through the Severstal steel mill in Austria which gets its pig iron from Brazil.
Ford, GM, BMW, Mercedes, Nissan and agricultural vehicle manufacturer John Deere have all been linked in one way or another to pig iron extraction in Brazil, through the Severstal steel mill in Austria which gets its pig iron from Brazil.
We’ll leave you with the words of Greenpeace Brazil Amazon campaign director Paulo Adario, who said “"By buying this steel, these well-known brands are helping to destroy the Amazon. President Dilma [Rousseff] (female-president of Brazil) must protect the Amazon and the people who depend on it by ending deforestation, slavery and the invasion of indigenous lands."
Story via theguardian.co.uk
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