Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has amended the proposed EU directive on the exposure of workers to mechanical vibrations, cutting the time that mines would have to introduce new maximum levels from six years to five. MEP’s also voted to tighten the limits supported by the EU Council of Ministers so that they corresponded to international standards.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TECHNICAL specialists are approaching agreement on international rules of origin for industrial minerals; these would state the degree of processing required for a raw material to be considered a new product.

The decisions would mean that worldwide, such products would in future be affected by duties, quotas and other import and export regulations relating to the country where they were processed, rather than where they were mined.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been authorised to open negotiations with Iran on forging a trade agreement, a deal that would inevitably focus on the country’s vast mineral resources; Brussels thinks that trade with Iran has enormous potential and has an interest in its government abiding by World Trade Organisation rules.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
THE SRI Lankan government has been urged by a working group of its National Development Council to proceed with the 300MW Norochcholai Coal Power Project immediately, if it wants to avert a future electricity crisis. The group wants the plant commissioned and generating power by January 2006, with a possible expansion being carried out by 2010.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
The European Commission is to propose an extension of EUenvironmental legislation in the mining sector following completion of aconsultation exercise with interested parties. Brussels said it had decidedto proceed with three priority actions “to improve the safety of mines,relating to industrial risk management, management of mining waste andintegrated pollution prevention and control.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has formally proposed a ban on the sale to consumers of creosote, after EU scientists concluded it was more carcinogenic than previously thought. If approved by EU ministers, the ban will take effect from June 2003.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE CANADIAN government has been urged to pass legislation that will force tobacco companies to make the cigarettes marketed as light or mild taste harsher.

A new report from one of Health Canada’s advisory bodies, the Ministerial Advisory Council on Tobacco Control, has recommended: “Once the government has addressed the issue of deceptive cigarette marketing, it should consider the issue of cigarette engineering that is misleading to smokers.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s Council of Ministers has agreed proposals to further harmonise manufactured tobacco sold within the EU, albeit a watered-down package compared with that tabled by the European Commission earlier this year.

Ministers accepted that the fixed minimum amount of excise duty per 1,000 cigarettes would be Euro 60 from July 1, 2002, rising to Euro 64 from July 1, 2006.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation has tried to undermine support for Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco and British American Tobacco’s “International Tobacco Product Marketing Standards” campaign, ahead of the scheduled talks at its Geneva headquarters to negotiate global rules for tobacco control.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADIAN Health Minister, Allan Rock has launched a campaign focusing on alerting consumers to six pollutants released when cigarettes are smoked, information that has been forced onto packs because of a federal labeling law. A direct mail package will be sent to family doctors, dentists, and oncologists across the country describing the health effects that benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, nicotine and tar.…