Search Results for: Environmental Health

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ANTI-GLOBALISATION activists will not like it, but there are clear signs that September’s World Trade Organisation summit in Cancun might deliver what has eluded political leaders since the WTO’s agricultural liberalisation talks began in 2000: the beginnings of a deal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

Duke Energy Corp, a diversified US energy company based in Charlotte, is in discussions with “several potential buyers” for its European natural gas business, the company has announced. It gave no details of the possible buyers or price.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is promoting on-site power generation in Russia, developing plans to lend a major potassium salt producer US$75 million, which it would use to build its own power plant. Located in the city of Berezniki, the Perm Region, in the Urals, OAO Uralkaly would use the new generator to make “improvements in energy efficiency and environmental compliance.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is building up a case-file of colour photographs showing diseased human organs that will be put at the disposal of EU Member States for display on tobacco packages from next year. Member governments may choose whether or not to use the images and while the UK is not planning to at present, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Health, “it is looking into the matter.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN UPDATED second edition of guidelines for public authorities and companies to prevent and respond to chemical accidents has been published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). They revise and update guidelines first issued 11 years ago, also including notes on planning, cleaning up and assessing incidents and offer advice to any organisation handling or controlling the use and transport of hazardous substances.…

BY Alan Osborn
Top level plans drawn up for the future of Europe aren’t green enough says an informal coalition of eight leading environmental organisations. The group has strongly challenged the constitutional blueprint for the future of the EU set out by the European Convention (composed of governments, parliaments, EU institutions, academics and others) and has proposed significant changes in the detail as well as the overall thrust of the text.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening Ireland with legal action at the European Court of Justice over its alleged failure to abide by the EU environmental impact assessment directive regarding fish farms. Brussels says that Irish legislation does not allow assessments to take sufficient account of environmentally sensitive sites or of the cumulative effects of smaller individual projects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CROATIA is being challenged at the WTO by Hungary over its June ban on meat imports from any country permitting feed containing animal protein, and – in some circumstances – fish meal. Zagreb justifies its action to prevent BSE outbreaks, but Hungary says it is too extreme, breaking WTO health rules.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE LONG-RUNNING row between Russia and the United States has taken another twist with Moscow reducing the number of its approved American suppliers from 341 to 266. The Russian government cited concerns about health standards in the US poultry industry, the reason for an earlier blanket ban, which was lifted recently.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE THAI Broiler Processing Exporters Association has predicted a significant rise in Thailand’s chicken exports, following the recent relaxation of European Union health checks on their products. This follows the tightening of controls locally. Association president Anam Sirimongkolkasem (CORRECT SPELLING) said exports could now reach around 500,000 tonnes this year, up from 464,243 tonnes in 2002.…