LONDON – PAN UK has launched a 25th Anniversary Appeal in a bid to raise further funds to continue its work on tackling the use and potential effects of harmful pesticide use in industrial agriculture.
The charity and its latest appeal, has the support of several well-known names within the clothing industry that are well-known for their work on sustainable and ethical textile production. Backing the appeal, iconic UK designer Katharine Hamnett claimed that, “Every year, tens of thousands of cotton farmers die from pesticide poisoning; many thousands more have their lives blighted by chronic illness. Pesticides are expensive and paying for them has led many farmers into deep debt, causing a high number of suicides.
“The information that I received from PAN UK was the spark that ignited the whole sustainable clothing movement, now huge and growing every day. Without PAN this would never have happened.”
PAN UK campaigns to ban the most harmful pesticides used in agriculture. It also promotes organic cotton as a viable alternative and works with farmers in the developing world to help them to use more sustainable agricultural techniques that require fewer chemical inputs.
“We have worked to create markets for products like organic cotton, so that the farmers can escape poverty without jeopardising their own – or their family’s – health,” said Pan UK director, Keith Tyrell.
For more details go to www.pan-uk.org
