Search Results for: Environmental Health

BY PHILIP FINE

SEVERAL major bacterial food-borne illnesses seem to be on the decline in the United States, according to a recent survey of clinical laboratories that test for infection. In their annual release of data, the US Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveyed labs that serve 13 per cent of the American population and found that sustained progress is being made in meeting the national health objectives for illnesses caused by listeria and campylobacter, when comparing 2002 data with 1996-2001 numbers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS with many projects inspired by the start of the next 997 years and the last three, the framing of the United Nations’ (UN) Millennium Development Goals was an ambitious enterprise.

Imposing statistically measurable targets for international organisations and national governments in making improvements in global poverty, education, gender equality, health, the environment and education, they have proved tough to attain.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CHILDREN exposed to passive smoking have twice as many tooth cavities as those who are not, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The findings, derived from the USA’s Third National Health and Nutrition Survey, concluded that inhaling ‘second-hand’ smoke inhibits a child’s ability to fend off bacteria that causes tooth decay.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SUCCESSFUL trial of electronic tags for livestock has been announced by the European Commission, which has inspired a proposed regulation that would create a unified system for accurately monitoring farm animals across the European Union.

Brussels officials have unveiled in Italy the results of the IDEA project (Electronic IDentification of Animals), a one million animal trial spanning France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEW regulations controlling live exports have been ordered by the European Commission, which state that from October 1 reinforced checks must be made on the health of animals in transit at their exit from the EU and where they are initially unloaded in an importing country.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency has launched a publicly available database containing national environmental reports from 52 European and central Asian countries and five geographical regions. The database also includes international assessments of these countries, which include all European Union states, countries applying to join the EU and most former Soviet republics.…

BY RICHARD HURST
INDIAN steel producer Tata Steel has launched an environmental impact assessment (EIA) study to determine the ecological feasibility of building a high carbon ferrochrome smelter in Richards Bay, Kwazulu-Natal. The project would attract tax relief from the South African Department of Trade and Industry’s Strategic Industrial Projects budget, with a potential subsidy being worth as much as Rand 480 million, (US$59.45 million).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GEORGE W Bush may mot have an awful lot of time for either the United Nations or international law – especially as far as global warming is concerned – but in Europe, at least, its reach is growing wider.…

KEITH NUTHALL
EASTERN European countries looking to join the European Union need to make efficiency improvements to their textile industries, so that they can face the challenge of membership and the impending abolition of quotas under the World Trade Organisations Agreement in Textiles and Clothing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is developing plans to set up a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which would coordinate efforts by European Union (EU) Member States to fight outbreaks of communicable viruses such as SARS.

In a speech to the European Parliament, EU health Commissioner David Byrne said that this would be “the most effective way to strengthen EU activities” against this disease and others such as TB.…