Search Results for: Environmental health

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONSERVATIONISTS have welcomed a controversial United Nations (UN) report identifying wealthy western companies allegedly involved in wartime projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) they say may endanger rare great apes.

It says Barclays Bank, diamonds giant De Beers, British mining corporation Anglo American, Belgian bankers Fortis, South African miners Iscor, and the United Arab Emirates’ Standard Chartered Bank and 79 other companies have broken OECD multinational good behaviour guidelines by their association with mining, logging or road building in the Congo.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADIAN smokers switch from regular cigarettes to lighter versions because they think milder brands are less damaging according to Health Canada survey. The poll conducted on 1,200 smokers in January 2002, said 24 per cent of smokers switched because they are less harsh, 21 per cent because they taste better, 18 per cent because of health reasons, 14 per cent as a step toward quitting and 12 per cent because they contain less tar and nicotine.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AWARDS have been made to 20 companies across Europe by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for groundbreaking schemes that have effectively reduced workplace stress, reducing the risk of psychological problems developing in employees. Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, the agency’s director, said the schemes were examples of good practice that should be followed across the European Union.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is to lift a ban on another two Chinese food imports, which was imposed over concerns about the misuse of anti-biotics. The EU Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health has approved the health of Chinese crayfish and surimi.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A LONG-LIST of nine names was being considered this month (January) by the World Health Organisation as potential successors to Gro Harlem Brundtland as director general next year. Dr Brundtland has conducted a relentless campaign against smoking and the organisation may be difficult to elect a similar anti-tobacco crusader given the differences she has had with the US.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has lent Euro 30 million to Frantschach Swiecie SA, Poland’s second largest pulp and paper producer, so it can modernise its combined heat and power plant, supplying steam and electricity. The money will help it construct a new fluidised bed boiler, which will use biomass and coal as a fuel, overhaul existing coal-fired boilers and upgrade other electricity generating equipment.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA and KEITH NUTHALL
THE GOVERNMENT of Sri Lanka is embarking on a comprehensive survey of the country’s clay resources as demand grows thanks to an official policy of promoting a home-grown ceramics industry, which is already the largest mineral-based sector in this south Asian country.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMMERCIAL ferry is being fitted with optical sensors by two universities to conduct an environmental survey of the surface of the Irish Sea, which will provide comprehensive data to improve the management of its ecosystems.

The University of Wales’ School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor, and the National University of Ireland are using Irish Ferries’ Ulysses for the experiment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMMERCIAL ferry is being fitted with optical sensors by two universities to conduct an environmental survey of the surface of the Irish Sea, which will provide comprehensive data to improve the management of its ecosystems.

The University of Wales’ School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor, and the National University of Ireland are using Irish Ferries’ Ulysses for the experiment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMMERCIAL ferry is being fitted with optical sensors by two universities to conduct an environmental survey of the surface of the Irish Sea, which will provide comprehensive data to improve the management of its ecosystems.

The University of Wales’ School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor, and the National University of Ireland are using Irish Ferries’ Ulysses for the experiment.…