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.
SEA DUMPING CRIME
BY KEITH NUTHALL
The European Parliament has voted to overrule the European Commission and make deliberate pollution of the sea a criminal offence. MEPs said fines, as proposed by the Commission, were not enough to deter ships’ captains from repeatedly dumping waste.…
RADIOACTIVE DISCHARGES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
1) The European Commission has acted to achieve a more effective, quality based and harmonised reporting system for radioactive discharges from EU member states’ nuclear industries. A new Recommendation defines the format and content of information to be reported to the Commission on discharges into the environment from nuclear power stations and spent fuel reprocessing plants.…
AIR QUALITY PROTOCOL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
2) A new UN protocol to improve air quality by restricting emissions in Europe of three harmful heavy metals – cadmium, lead and mercury – has come into force. The agreement also calls for the phasing out of leaded petrol, reduced emissions from products like batteries, and lower emissions from the iron and steel and other industries.…
SAFE TURKEYS
BY MONICA DOBIE
ADDING Vitamin E to the diets of turkeys may reduce the instances of people contracting listeriosis, the potentially deadly bacterial foodborne illness. Scientists from the United States’ Agricultural Research Service have found that supplementing turkeys’ diets with the vitamin stimulates their immune responses, helping them clear the gut of the microorganism that causes the disease.…
AIR POLLUTION - METALS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s environment committee is calling for strict maximum European Union limits to be imposed on the amount of cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons allowed in ambient air. The committee wants these to replace non-binding targets in the current proposed air pollution directive.…
GM FOOD EVERYWHERE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler has warned that no food can now be completely free of genetically modified organisms, claiming a moral absolutist stance in setting acceptable close-to-zero thresholds for levels of GMOs in organic and conventional products is unrealistic.…
PROBIOTICS
BY MONICA DOBIE
AMERICAN scientists have discovered ways of protecting live chickens from salmonella, campylobacter and other pathogens that cause foodborne illness. Researchers from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the University of Arkansas have used a concept called competitive exclusion, where probiotics (beneficial live bacteria), are fed to hatchling chickens.…
WATER SMELLS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE STENCH from liquid waste is rarely pleasant, especially for nearby residential areas, so technology from a European Union (EU) funded project will be welcome, if its developers deliver a claim it can reduce such disgusting odours by 95 per cent.…
WATER ECJ CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has sent Ireland a legal final warning threatening possible legal action over Dublin’s alleged failure to protect too few maritime zones containing commercial shellfish fisheries. Brussels says that the Irish government has broken the EU shellfish water directive by designating only 14 shellfish zones for special protection.…
BSE - USA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE OFFICE International des Épizooties (OIE) has intensified calls for beef importing countries to refrain from over-reacting to BSE outbreaks. Looking at the recent USA infection, the OIE said it opposes resulting blanket beef bans, saying only specified risk materials and animals should be blocked.…