CLIVE STOTT
Gunns Ltd. new Chief Executive Greg L’Estrange (Examiner July 24) says they are reconsidering their support for community activities because of, “…the bitter fallout over its $2.2 billion pulp mill.” ( Sponsorships are not secure, says L’Estrange )
We have heard this sort of thing coming from the tobacco companies and I believe there are parallels.
Gunns have been smoking us out with their plantation burns for years. Their secondhand smoke is forced onto us to breathe for many months each year and it consists of a lot of the same toxins that cigarette smoke is made up of. Gunns smoke comes from burning vegetation; tobacco smoke comes from burning vegetation.
You don’t need to prove you are ‘over the age’ to smoke plantation smoke so the young are affected and have no say in the matter. Pregnant women are likewise forced to inhale this smoke, as are all Tasmanians.
Particulate pollution is known to cause asthma in young people, lung cancer, heart attacks, pre term deliveries and infant mortality, and some forms of diabetes.
There is nothing positive about any of this no matter how the forest industries dress it up.
Tobacco companies face a blanket ban on all sponsorship, public relations activities and “corporate responsibility” donations.
Perhaps our smoking Gunns needs to be looked at similarly.
