Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FEASIBILITY study has been carried out by the EU’s Joint Research Centre for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to investigate possibilities for incorporating a neutron coincidence counter into the Hybrid K-Edge Densitometer (HKED) to be delivered by ITU under an ITU-NMCC (Nuclear Material Control Centre) contract for the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, Japan.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists based at Galway, in Ireland, has made a surprising discovery that could have significant consequences for future climate change.

The EU-sponsored Parforce research project, led by the National University of Ireland, has found that iodine vapours released by marine algae can help thicken haze and cloud layers, blocking sunlight and thereby partially offsetting global warming from greenhouse gases.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
WE all want to eat safely, which is why governments pass laws to ensure that all food sold measures up to minimum standards of purity and quality. But this can be taken too far. If the safety lines are drawn too tightly or in an arbitrary way, they can be a barrier to imports and thus an impediment to free trade.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ONE of Britain’s best-known food safety experts, Deirdre Hutton, has been appointed to the board of the newly formed European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Ms Hutton, who is chairman of the National Consumer Council, led a recent DTI panel on the Food Chain and Crops for Industry and was a member of the government’s Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (the Curry report).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a case at the European Court of Justice against the British government, which is claims has failed to abide by European Union laws on environmental impact assessments for studies carried out on water management and green-field development projects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed the creation of a new Euro 13 million per annum scheme to monitor the health of Europe’s forests. The programme would run from January 2003 until December 2008. The Commission would establish a Scientific Co-ordination Body within the EU’s Joint Research Centre to collect and assess data on forest health and pollution.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed revised European Union-wide rules for health controls on meat, dairy products and molluscs as part of a new package of hygiene measures that are designed to step up food safety. These would insist upon a scientific approach to meat inspection, which Brussels said would protect consumers from hazards linked to the consumption of meat.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BRITISH government is to be taken to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission for allegedly failing to prioritise the processing of waste oils by regeneration, supposedly breaking the Waste Oils Directive. The UK is also facing an ECJ case over claims that it has not implemented the Landfill Directive for the whole country, notably in Northern Ireland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank is claiming that it spent Euro 9 billion in 2001 on projects boosting the environment and the quality of life, within and outside the European Union. Loans for water and sewerage schemes totalled Euro 946 million, for improving air quality Euro 846 million, energy saving Euro 790 million and energy substitution Euro 723 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been formally criticised by the European Ombudsman, over its handling and investigation of a complaint against the Greek government by a campaigner opposing the construction of a biological treatment plant and sewerage system in a pretty coastal tourist town.…