Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL

UPDATED detailed guidelines have been issued for Arctic oil and gas exploration and extraction projects taking into account the region’s punishing, yet delicate environment.

They have been released by the Arctic Council, which represents countries with Arctic territory: Canada, Denmark (through its Greenland dependency), Iceland, Finland, Russia, Sweden, Norway and the USA.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CANADIAN oil company Bankers Petroleum Ltd will help clean up southern Albania’s polluted Patos Marinza oilfield, after the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) lent the firm US$50 million to help expand its holdings. Bankers’ work will be assisted by an additional IFC US$5 million special purpose environmental works loan for reducing contamination and pollution.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

PAINT sales in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are forecast to fall by 25-30% this year, a remarkable change in fortunes from the years of double-digit growth when the country’s US$300 million coatings sector was one of the fastest growing in the world.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GLOBAL initiatives designed to promote sustainable practices in the bio-based oils and fats industry are making strong progress. The key Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS) has now released "principles and criteria" designed to ensure soy production does not cause long term damage to the environment and society.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AUTOMAKERS across the European Union (EU) will from next April have to issue comprehensive and detailed certificates of conformity with each new vehicles illustrating compliance with EU technical standards.

These are not simple declarations. There are three models of certificate: one for completed vehicles made by one manufacturer; another for completed vehicles made by more than one automaker – say the chassis made by one and the rest by another; and a third certificate for each of these elements as they are passed to a second manufacturer.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

RESEARCHERS from North Carolina, in the USA, have found that a natural glue created by marine mussels may provide an alternative to traditional medical adhesives when repairing post-operative tissue.

Unlike suturing, that requires a high level of skill and time as well as discomfort and inflammation, or medical synthetic adhesives that pose some environmental and toxicity concerns, the natural proteins from mussels that allow them to stick to rocks is flexible yet precise, biodegradable and easy to use.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

COUNTERFEITERS often claim their crime is victimless – the only losers are rich corporations who enjoy healthy profits anyway from their brands. But what if you drink the fake, and it kills you? It happens, Keith Nuthall explores the murky world of drinks counterfeiting.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

KEY regulatory agencies have signed an international agreement to work together in significantly reducing the number of animals used in experiments worldwide. The Japanese Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods, the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), the US National Toxicology Program and Canada’s Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau have initialed a memorandum of cooperation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is to launch an inquiry into the digitalisation of millions of books by Google, without the permission of their rights holders, to see whether the European Union (EU) should protect authors and publishers.

This follows a request made yesterday (28-3) by the EU Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels.…

BY MARK GODFREY

BUSINESS remains slow in Jinghai, a slice of industrial land a couple of hours east of Beijing designated as one of China’s key recycling belts. Business was brisk here up to October 2008, the date given locally as the beginning of a savage dip in demand for recyclables.…