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.
PESTICIDES RESIDUE
BY ALAN OSBORN
A SURVEY conducted by the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission on pesticide residues has found that maximum safety limits were exceeded in 4.5 per cent of 45,000 samples of fruit, vegetable and cereals analysed in the year 2000.…
CHEMICAL CARDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), of the United Nations, is promoting the use of so-called International Chemical Safety Cards, which are designed to reduce the risk of industrial accidents in companies using chemicals. Each card summarises essential health and safety information on chemicals for their use at work.*More…
WASTE SHIPMENTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DETAILED rules on the international shipment of waste destined for recovery have been released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The guidelines, which are optional for the group’s rich country membership, include notes on documentation, the definition of recovery, and on how to deal with waste mixtures, re-exports and other issues.…
KYOTO PROTOCOL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN is the only country in the European Union that is not on course to meet its targets on the reduction of greenhouse gases, according to a report from the European Environment Agency.
The UK’s emissions of greenhouse gases rose by 0.4 per cent in 1999-2000, mainly due to an expansion in power generation from fossil fuels, especially coal.…
SMART SMELLER
BY MATTHEW BRACE
ELECTRONIC noses being developed in Australia are to be tested to monitor smell levels from factories; industry is being pressured to clean up its act with smell being a key issue.
The odour sentinels, created by the Centre for ChemoSensory Research at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, stand like small sentry boxes sniffing out bad smells and alerting engineers automatically.It…
MILAN CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has found that Italy has breached the EU’s 1991 urban waste water directive by allowing discharges in Milan to be released indirectly into environmentally sensitive rivers and seawater without being subjected to specific treatment.…
FAO/WHO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation will hold an “expert consultation” after the Swedish National Food Administration claimed accumulations of the toxin acrylamide have been found in fried and baked food, to “determine the full extent of the public health risk.”…
NUCLEAR DECOMMISSIONING
BY DEIRDRE MASON
THOUSANDS of tonnes of mildly radioactive steel could come onto the European market because of pressure on countries waiting to join the European Union to dismantle their decrepit Russian-built nuclear power stations. Aware of the need to assuage public distrust of even the lowest levels of radioactivity, the European Union’s Joint Research Centre is investigating the levels of radiation likely to be involved in this steel, taken from buildings that do not house the reactor itself.…
CHATHAM HOUSE
BY MARK ROWE
DISPUTES over who owns an idea and the right to stop others from stealing it probably date back to the cavemen who invented the wheel. It was most likely resolved by the application of a large club to the head.…