U.S. Companies

"By doing business with Madenorte, U.S. companies directly contribute to environmental destruction, slavery and death in the

endangered Amazon rainforest,"

Scott Paul,

Coordinator,

Greenpeace's Forest Campaign.

New Report Names U.S. Companies that Trade with Criminal Operations in Brazilian Amazon
Washington, DC, UNITED STATES
February 19, 2004,

WASHINGTON - Several U.S. companies help to fuel violence and rainforest destruction in the Brazilian Amazon by buying and/or

distributing wood from Grupo Madenorte, a logging company that engages in corrupt practices in Brazil's conflict-torn Para state.

As detailed in the Greenpeace report State of Conflict, Madenorte and other timber companies use fraud, intimidation, slavery,

and murder to usurp land from Para residents and decimate the rainforest. An annex to the report identifies Center, Texas-based

Ihlo Sales & Import Company as the single largest importer of wood from Madenorte, and lists several other U.S. companies that

either import from Madenorte directly or distribute Madenorte wood from Ihlo.

Other importers identified in the annex include Columbia Forest Products (Portland, Ore.), Dantzler (Miami Lakes, Fla.), DLH

Nordisk (Greensboro, N.C.), John S. Connor, Inc. (Baltimore, Md.), McCausey Lumber (Roseville, Mich.), Robinson Lumber

(New Orleans, La.), and Sabra International (Miami Beach, Fla.). Distributors that routinely purchase or have purchased Madenorte

wood from Ihlo include Acadian Hardwoods & Cypress (Ponchatoula, La.), Boom, Inc. (Newtown Square, Pa.), Central Wholesale

Supply Corporation (Norfolk, Va.), Diamond Hill Plywood (Darlington, S.C.), Dixie Plywood (Savannah, Ga.), and Tech Products

(Miami, Fla.).

Today Greenpeace delivered copies of State of Conflict to every company named in the annex along with a letter, asking them to

stop doing business with Madenorte. Greenpeace also delivered copies to the U.S. Justice Department, State Department,

Commerce Department, Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Customs, and other government agencies responsible for enforcing the

President's Initiative on Illegal Logging.

"By doing business with Madenorte, U.S. companies directly contribute to environmental destruction, slavery and death in the

endangered Amazon rainforest," said Scott Paul, Coordinator of Greenpeace's Forest Campaign. "The U.S. is the largest importer

of forest products worldwide and too many U.S. companies don't bother to look into the practices of the companies from which they

buy. With this report, the federal government and companies such as Ihlo can no longer plead ignorance to the criminal activity of

"Despite the high rate of illegal logging, important timber importing nations such as the US, UK, Spain, France and Japan have

taken few, if any, steps to ensure that products they import come from legal, let alone ecologically well-managed sources. In practice, the only

way to ensure that wood and wood products in the Amazon come from legal and well-managed sources is to demand that all such products

have been independently certified to at least the standards adopted by the Forest Stewardship Council."

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