Search Results for: Environmental health

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NATIONAL Coal Mining Museum for England is to receive a share of Euro 69 million in grants made by the European Commission under the EU LIFE Environment scheme. The museum’s INWATCO project has been selected for funding; it aims to demonstrate and evaluate innovative techniques and procedures for the integrated management of groundwater resources in coal mining areas.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed revised European Union-wide rules for health controls on live bivalve molluscs as part of a new package of hygiene measures that are designed to step up food safety. The proposal identifies steps required by national competent health authorities to ensure the safety of these products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENTS and international organisations have highlighted tobacco smuggling as one of the largest illegal drains on their tax revenues. An international conference has brought law enforcement professionals together with health officials to fight this problem. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
UNDETERRED by the scientific world’s comprehensive ignorance of the deep-sea environment, the United Nations’ International Seabed Authority is pressing ahead with research projects that will help it estimate the effect of submarine mining on species that have yet to be discovered.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
WE know that irresponsible sea-sand dredging can led to coastal erosion, threatening beaches and ecological balance and even the livelihoods of whole sea-side or fishing communities. Yet there is today an unprecedented demand for sand as a building material.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A RELAXATION of European Union rules governing British slaughterhouses and processing plants has been agreed by the EU Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health and will enter into force after formal adoption by the European Commission.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed new tougher animal health regulations for live exports, which would insist on high standards of cleanliness at staging posts created to rest livestock in transit. The new rules – which must be approved by European Union ministers to take effect – would tell staging post managers to “clean and disinfect” the areas within 24 hours of a visit by transported animals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has complained to a key World Trade Organisation committee that its beef imports are being unfairly restricted by the USA because of concerns that they are contaminated with BSE. It has claimed at the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee that the US should not, for example, be insisting on the onsite inspection of Swiss meat plants, because the Office International des Épizooties has classified Switzerland as having a low incidence the disease.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has filed an appeal against the dismissal of its cigarette smuggling action in the US against three tobacco companies: Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds and Japan Tobacco. Notably, it has received formal support in the proceedings from the US Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association for its action, along with the World Health Organisation, the US Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation’s general council has been asked to approve global trading laws stating that the drying of fish, fish livers, roes and fish fillets should legally be considered a product of the country where fish is processed, not where it was caught.…