21/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a press release, British Green MEP Caroline Lucas slams the 'Christmas food miles scandal' whereby the ingredients for a typical Christmas dinner may have travelled 30,000 miles from producers and growers to the UK dinner table, damaging the environment and undermining local economies. 'Ingredients for a traditional Christmas dinner are in season in the UK right now - that's why they're traditionally eaten at Christmas! There's simply no need to eat mange-tout from Zimbabwe, runner beans from Zambia or carrots from South Africa. African farmers are paying a high social and environmental price for switching traditional production to inappropriate cash crops geared for western markets, but seeing few of the financial benefits,' she explained. Lucas added that 200,000 trees are felled each year to supply the 1.7 billion Christmas cards sent annually in the UK. 40,000 trees are felled to make the 8,000 tonnes of wrapping paper used in the UK every year, and almost six million Christmas trees end up in UK landfill sites every January.