Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
CODEX COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD’S food standards body, the Codex Alimentarius, has approved an international code of practice on ‘good animal feeding’, establishing a global feed safety system for livestock “in order to minimise risks to the health of consumers.” It advises on reducing environmental health problems associated with particular feeds, (such as antibiotics).…
TRADING CARDS
BY MONICA DOBIE
MOVE over Harry Potter trading cards. Make way for deformed child victim of polio and newborn afflicted with tetanus trading cards. Yes folks, disease cards complete with gory, graphic pictures and interesting facts on the back are making the rounds in school playgrounds across the United States.…
DEER BSE PROBE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has called for detailed studies into whether farmed and wild deer used for venison carry scrapie or an unknown TSE strain, similar to BSE. In the meantime, it has suggested it “might be prudent” to ban the sale of deer “tissues such as central nervous system (CNS) and lymphoid tissues” from sale to food processors or consumers.…
FRANCE ECJ WATER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE is flirting with potentially huge daily recurring fines from the European Court of Justice by ignoring three rulings ordering compliance with EU environmental laws. Judges told Paris last year to adopt pollution reduction programmes under the 1976 directive on discharges of dangerous substances to water, grant more access to environmental information and create extra protected nature sites.…
POLAR CHECKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GROUND-LEVEL checks on the thickness of polar ice caps are being staged by the European Space Agency (ESA) to assess environmental monitoring data which will be culled by its oncoming Cryosat satellite mission. ESA has sent scientists to ice sheets in the north of Canada, Greenland and Norway.…
JRC - EASTERN EUROPE WASTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCIENTISTS at the European Union’s (EU) Joint Research Centre are helping the EU’s 10 new member countries comply with the union’s waste legislation. The centre claims several new members “continue to rely on uncontrolled waste dumps”, which can have “a detrimental impact on the environment and human health.…
WASTE THEMATIC STRATEGY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have rejected calls by the European Commission for EU-wide legislation erecting market barriers against landfilling, such as ‘pay-as-you-throw’ levies. Considering the Commission’s Communication “Towards a thematic strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste”, ministers noted that such schemes have in the past “not always achieved the desired objectives – eg internalisation of costs and effective behavioural change – and can lead to market distortions.”…
ECJ - UK POLLUTION CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BRITISH government is being threatened with European Court of Justice (ECJ) action by the European Commission, which claims it is breaking the EU directive on assessing and managing ambient air quality and associated legislation. Brussels claims Britain has failed to establish effective nitrogen dioxide reduction programmes in Tyneside, Liverpool, Nottingham, Hull, Southampton and Glasgow.…
EFSA GM CRITICISM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has undermined moves by Austria and Greece to block sales of GM maize and oilseed rape (respectively) which possess prior European Union (EU) market approval. EFSA concluded the countries have “no new scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human health and the environment”.…
EEA GLOBAL WARMING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency (EEA) says the old 15 member EU’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 0.5% from 2001-2, following increases in the previous two years. Sadly, proactive anti-global warming measures were not top of the agency’s reasons for the cut.…