Search Results for: Environmental health

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
THE IRISH government has been calculating the cost of introducing a carbon tax to fall in line with the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and associated EU legislation. Its environment minister Martin Cullen said the price of complying with a target of capping greenhouse gas emissions from Ireland at 13 per cent of 1990 levels could be as much as Euro 260 million annually over a five-year period.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
The new European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will attempt to re-build public confidence in food safety throughout the 15-member European Union after the BSE and other scares by convincing consumers that the scientific assessment of risk is in the hands of a fully independent body with no interest in “cooking the books.”…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADIAN tobacco companies may have to introduce a self-snuffing cigarette if recent federal government proposals are given the go ahead. New standards outlined in a consultation paper by Health Canada, urge Ottawa to insist that cigarettes sold in Canada are designed to burn at lower temperatures or self-extinguish if a puff is not taken.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
A new treatment to protect chickens against infection could phase out antibiotics in the poultry industry. The system, developed by Australia’s science authority CSIRO, provides a way of delivering antibiotic alternatives – natural proteins called cytokines – into chickens.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a European Union (EU) ban of the plant protection product ingredient Aldicarb, which has been shown to be potentially lethal to small birds and possibly damaging to earthworms. It has asked ministers to approve a prohibition on the sale of pesticides containing Aldicarb within six months of a decision and an immediate block on any future approvals of other plant protection lines containing this chemical.…

BY PHILIP FINE

CONCERNS about a possible link between breast cancer and meat consumption are unfounded, according to a recent large-scale American study. The Nurses’ Health Study followed 88,647 women for 18 years. Investigators found no evidence that a diet high in animal protein was associated with risk of breast cancer.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GERMAN government has called at the EU Council of Ministers for an EU-wide strategy to reduce the potential health risk from the production of acrylamide in certain categories of food, such as bread and chips.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ENVIRONMENT committee of the European Parliament wants a review of the safety levels of food additives used in confectionery to check whether they are safe for children. It backed a report by Swedish liberal MEP Marit Paulsen, which calling for a European Commission act within three years, because such additive levels are set with the health of adults in mind.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending US$20 million to OAO Concern Kalina, the leading producer of cosmetics and personal care products in Russia and the former Soviet Union, to finance its acquisition of smaller Russian competitors, as well as make new capital investments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission made a formal call for nuclear specialists involved in collaborative studies with experts from other European Union (EU) Member States to submit proposals for grants from the EU’s sixth framework programme for research. Brussels has set aside a budget of Euro 61 million – paid via EURATOM – for this work and has released a detailed guide of the research topics it will favour in grant applications.…