Search Results for: Environmental health

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MULTILATERAL sea and river organisations are usually created to deal with existing problems that cross national borders, but a new body has been making progress on a shipping issue that has yet even to happen: the exploitation and transport of subterranean solid mineral deposits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU consumer affairs and health Commissioner David Byrne has revealed details of a planned new European directive on food and drink labelling, which could lead to a dramatic expansion of the ingredient information that must be printed. If it is approved by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, the directive would order the listing of all ingredients of foodstuffs and potential allergens.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a series of legal proceedings against EU Member States, which it claims have broken oil-related directives.

It has decided to take Italy to the European Court of Justice over its special tax on engine lubrication oils, which Brussels claims contravenes EU excise duty laws.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has published guidelines that encourage local and national public authorities to use EU legislation on public procurement to promote the purchase of environmentally friendly goods and services. Brussels’ “interpretive communication” on the subject does not advise local and national governments adapt procurement practices so that environmental good practice automatically becomes a sales condition.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
SHIPPING companies working throughout the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and its navigation seaways are being forced to carry less cargo because of very low water levels, worse than those recorded in 1999 and 2000, when there was also a water shortage.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has run out of patience with France and Belgium over their flouting of the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive and has decided to launch legal cases against the two countries at the European Court of Justice.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
BRITISH hauliers could face new obstacles at trans-alpine crossings in Austria, if a decision by the transport committee of the European Parliament to reject proposals for increasing the number of trips across the Alps is backed by the full assembly.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development has drawn up plans to lend US $5 million to Bulgarian gold and copper mine Navan Chelopech A.D., to improve productivity and efficiency, “by bringing the mine up to international operating and environmental standards.”…

BY MONICA DOBIE
SCIENTISTS at the University of Guelph in Ontario have developed genetically modified pigs whose manure has up to 75 per cent less phosphorus than other pigs, a development that could dramatically reduce environmental costs and hence the price of pig-meat.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A SLEW of new measures tightening up the labelling and composition of soaps, detergents and possibly the perfumes used in them, has been suggested by the European Commission. Its ideas are only at the “working document” stage, but are being put up for consultation with the industry, consumers associations and others and could form the basis for legislation later in the year.…