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.
PESTICIDE RESIDUES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved in principle a proposed regulation empowering the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to set EU-wide maximum levels for pesticide residues on foodstuffs, following comprehensive risk assessments. This would replace a current harmonised national authorisation system, although national regulators would still stage preliminary assessments of residue limits.…
BT 11 - MAIZE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has effectively opened the way for the European Commission to lift the EU’s de-facto moratorium on selling new genetically modified (GM) foodstuffs, failing to make a decision on approving Syngenta’s insect-resistant maize Bt11 for consumption.…
ESA SPACE FOOD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIAN cosmonauts are trialling a fast-food snack system designed to preserve freshness in wholesome Mediterranean products, even in the long-term room temperature storage required for six-month International Space Station missions. The Mediet (Mediterranean Diet) experiment uses vacuum-sealed plastic packages of dried tomatoes, mature cheese, piadina bread, peaches and chocolate from Italy on an aluminium ergonomic tray.…
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ONLINE tool has been released by a European Commission-funded research project allowing local authorities to assess their sustainable development, measured across a wide range of activities. The Local Evaluation 21 system will allow councils for the first time – claim its developers – to compare their record with all other local authorities in Britain and those of a similar size from other European Union (EU) countries.…
WWF - REACH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN chemical industry is systematically over-estimating the costs of the European Union’s (EU) proposed environmental control system REACH, a paper commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has claimed. The report ‘Cry Wolf’, written by the International Chemical Secretariat, includes five case studies of previous environmental conventions or legislation, such as the Montreal Protocol and the EU’s auto-oil programme.…
GREEN PARTY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Green Party has kicked off its June 10 European election campaign, which will focus on food safety and preventing repeats of the BSE and salmonella scares that have damaged the European Union (EU) meat industry in recent years.…
ANIMAL TRACING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW electronic European Union (EU) livestock tracing system is being introduced, holding data on the movement of animals across the EU. The TRACES system will cost Euro 2.2 million to rollout, being installed in Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Finland this month and in other member states by December 31.…
ORGANIC STANDARDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is releasing Euro 18 million to improve the safety and quality of organic food in the European Union, by boosting standards in farming, manufacture, transportation and retail. The ‘QualityLowInputFood’ project will develop new technologies for organic tomatoes, lettuce, onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbages, apples, wheat, pork, dairy and poultry products.…
EFSA GM MAIZE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has cleared the way for the European Union to legalise the sale of a genetically modified Monsanto maize engineered to resist certain pests, especially rootworm. EFSA said MON 863 “is as safe as conventional maize….AND…
AIR POLLUTION - EP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has struck a deal with the European Union Council of Ministers, entailing it dropping demands for compulsory limits within member countries for air pollution involving arsenic, cadmium, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Instead, MEPs agreed to set targets for 2012, which may turn into binding limits if they are missed by governments.…