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Nature notes: Best Buy takes a flyer on boreal forest

The little yellow tags scattered throughout Best Buy flyers may alert you to cash savings, but there’s nothing in there about the damage the electronics giant is doing to the boreal. 

According to Greenpeace Canada, Best Buy is ripping through more than 50 million kilos of paper a year, mostly from the boreal forest, to produce their throw-away flyers.

Besides being at the back of the pack when it comes to sustainable paper policies, the multinational, according to the eco org, is getting that paper from the headline-grabbing Resolute Forest Products. Canada’s largest logging company sued Rainforest Alliance last spring over a draft audit that led to the suspension of some Resolute Forest Stewardship Council certificates. Resolute also launched a defamation suit against Greenpeace last year for “malicious falsehoods” after the org raised questions about the logger’s forestry practices. 

Greenpeace says the Resolute lawsuits are designed to “silence criticism.” Documents obtained by Greenpeace under the Freedom of Information Act and provincial lobbyist registry found Resolute lobbyists were actively lobbying against the Ontario government’s Protection of Public Participation Act, legislation designed to prevent frivolous critic-muzzling lawsuits otherwise known as SLAPPs. Some of those registered lobbyists happened to be hired guns from Edelman, the PR firm turfed by TransCanada last week after its dodgy strategies made the news.

For its part, Resolute has denied filing a “nuisance suit” to silence critics. So far, Best Buy has yet to respond to Greenpeace’s petition calling for a tougher paper procurement policy. 

Antibacterials tied to liver damage

More bad news for antibacterial soap users. New research published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown that triclosan, the active ingredient in many antibacterial products, causes liver fibrosis and cancer in lab mice.

The study’s lead researcher, University of California San Diego biochem prof Robert H. Tukey argues mice aren’t the only ones that should be concerned. Tukey says triclosan may “present a very real risk of liver toxicity for people, as it does in mice, particularly when combined with other compounds with similar action.” Many major soap brands, including Softsoap, Palmolive and Dawn, have ditched triclosan, but others like Dial are still pumping out products containing the contentious chem.

ecoholic@nowtoronto.com | @ecoholicnation 

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