Search Results for: Environmental health

EUROPEAN Commission plans for new European Union (EU) chemicals regulations could lead to tighter rules on the formulation of can coatings used or made in the EU, which are used to prevent corrosion and extend shelf life.

The Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS), published October 14, says the Commission intends to eliminate from food contact materials (FCMs) -which would include cans and their coatings – carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic and endocrine-disrupting substances, as well as those that persist and accumulate in the environment or the body.(1)…

A SURVEY has concluded that 23% of inspected products imported into the European Union (EU) made with chemicals, including paints and coatings are breaking EU REACH and CLP (classification, labelling and packaging) rules. A European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) probe has concluded: “Some imports contained illegal amounts of hazardous substances that are restricted in the EU, while others had incorrect hazard labelling.”…

AUSTRALIA has chosen an unorthodox path in transitioning to a low carbon economy. Its centre-right government has advised the country’s clean energy agencies to decrease investment in renewables such as solar and wind and instead increase investment in hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, microgrids and energy efficiency.…

The Covid-19 pandemic is set to drive a near threefold surge in the antiviral coatings market as researchers and developers say they now realise how little they know about effective materials combatting such threats.

The search for more universal antiviral materials “should be continued with even higher intensity”, said Professors Ken Ostrikov and Ziqi Sun from Queensland University of Technology, in Australia, in their September (2020) report, ‘Future antiviral surfaces: Lessons from COVID-19 pandemic’, featured in the publication ‘Sustainable Materials and Technologies’.…

A FRESH round of restrictions on what chemicals can be used by the paint and coatings industry has been flagged by a detailed and comprehensive policy paper released by the European Commission. This ‘Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability Towards a Toxic-Free Environment’ flags changes that the EU executive intends to make to European chemical legislation.…

THE NEW campus of the University of Cape Verde (Uni-CV), which has cost almost USD60 million to build and should open next March (2021), is expected to attract more national and international students and researchers to this island country. The launch of this modern facility has been delayed from July (2020) because of Covid-19, but it is hoped the March opening will stick.…

In the west African state of Togo, universities have been relying on the internet to engage students in academic activities as remote learning has replaced in-person teaching under lockdown measures to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus. But tertiary education examinations have nonetheless had to be held within physical facilities because of limitations within the country’s online infrastructure.…

Taiwan’s government seems determined to push ahead with an aggressive stance against tobacco and nicotine products, pushing a control law that would, for instance, ban e-cigarettes, which have never been formally authorised for sale on the island.

The ministry of health and welfare’s Health Promotion Administration (HPA) is pushing amendments to Taiwan’s Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (THPA), which would also ban flavoured tobacco products, enlarge pictorial warnings to 85% of packaging area and raise the legal age to buy tobacco from 18 to 20.…

The Ethiopian government is preparing to re-open the country’s 45 public universities as it ends a Covid-19 lockdown that began in March, despite the disease continuing to expand nationwide along with growing concerns about social discord and violence.

Ethiopia has so far recorded 90.490 Covid-19 cases (as of Wednesday, October 21), the largest number of Covid-19 cases in east Africa.…

The Islamic insurgency experienced in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province, since 2017, which has already displaced more than 250,000 people and killed more than 1,500, is damaging operations within the region’s higher education institutions.

While confirmed casualties have yet to include academics and students at the region’s higher education institutions, local higher education leaders are concerned about the risks.…