Search Results for: Environmental health

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WORLD food standards organisation Codex Alimentarius has asked governments to comment on draft health guidelines on additives and contaminants by September 30, including draft maximum levels for lead in fish, tin in canned food, plus cadmium levels in rice, soy beans, mollusks and peanuts.…

BY Alan Osborn
The European Food Safety Authority has begun active operations following appointments to its scientific committee and to the eight specialist panels. Mr Geoffrey Podger, executive director of EFSA and former head of Britain’s food safety agency, said EFSA had recruited the best available scientists working on the most important food safety issues “so that significant improvements can be made to the safety of food in the European Union – that process begins now.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPE-WIDE campaign promoting safety in the construction sector has been launched by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. Coordinated by the EU’s Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC), the campaign includes the dissemination of good practice and checklists, for instance on working safely from height.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPE-WIDE campaign promoting safety in the construction sector has been launched by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. Coordinated by the EU’s Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC), the campaign includes the dissemination of good practice and checklists, for instance on working safely from height.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
POLYMERS used as raw materials in the manufacture of detergents, and other products used as intermediate chemicals in the production of cosmetics are to be spared strict registration requirements under the European Commission’s plans for chemical industry regulation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Bank report has called on the governments of the Balkans to pay more attention to the quality of their respective water sources and supplies, warning that neglect is leading to increases in pollution and damage from flooding.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
GERMANY has been preventing a collective acceptance by the 15 EU countries on the United Nations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. As in the negotiations at the World Health Organisation over the convention, at EU Council of Ministers meetings Germany has stood out, (mirroring the US position), against key aspects of the text, notably the ban on tobacco advertising.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE US government has announced increased funding to help its state food laboratories deal with possible terrorist attacks directly or indirectly involving food poisoning. By expanded their capacities, Washington hopes to increase its effectiveness and efficiency in testing meat and other food specimens to help public health officials deal with potential incidents of biological or chemical terrorism.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPEAN tobacco farmers have a launched a pre-emptive strike against the European Commission to preserve the present system of subsidies and marketing in the face of growing pressure from health groups and others to end the regime.

Brussels has been charged by the EU Council of Ministers with drawing up a report on tobacco-growing in the EU this year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EASHW) has announced the details of a campaign it will run this year on reducing the risk of handling dangerous substances at work. The European Union (EU) agency is to provide information about risks and solutions in all official EU languages, through posters, leaflets and a multilingual website at http://osha.eu.int/ew2003/,…