Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RICH member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are pooling experts and budgets to assess the environmental risks of using nanomaterials, including those incorporated into textiles, sunscreens, food packaging and pharmaceuticals. The OECD’s Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials will manage the programme; it already can call on 100 experts from the OECD’s 30 member countries.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing

METHANE recovery is a boom industry in China. A frenetic dig for coal to drive its economy means atmospheric concentrations of methane are growing. And this is a problem – methane is not only a greenhouse gas that retains 25 times more heat than carbon dioxide, it hangs around in the atmosphere a lot longer.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) wants improved European Union (EU) salmonella outbreak statistics to help environmental health officers, food manufacturers and regulators trace contaminated meat and dairy supplies. Its Panel on Biological Hazards has reported particular problems regarding meat, with data collated at EU and national levels not allowing "clear identification of meat categories (such as carcasses, fresh meat and products, minced meat and meat preparations)" involved in outbreaks, because foods are categorised differently country-to-country.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Tripoli and Beirut

THE OPENING up of Libya’s economy could not have come at a better time for international oil companies, which have been beset in recent years by dwindling easily accessible oil reserves, tighter controls over exploration rights and extraction, and heightened security concerns.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency (EEA) has raised concerns about the potential pressure on the European Union (EU) environment from developing biomass sources for bioenergy production now the EU is committed to also increasing its biofuel manufacturing and consumption.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and CHRIS JONES, in Brussels

INTENSE well-informed debates are likely to follow the release in January of a comprehensive package of legislation by the European Commission on fighting climate change through emissions trading, renewable energy, pollution caps, biofuels and environmental state aid.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EVERY decade or so comes a technology that is so new, comprehensive, interesting, and damned useful, that it changes the way that we learn, have fun and do business. Think commercial air travel, the mobile phone and the Internet…..these…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITISH emergency planners will be amongst local authority environmental specialists receiving special training and investment funding from the European Commission over the next two years. Brussels has announced Euro 4.07 million of grants, with "helping municipalities prepare for climate change and any resulting floods," being a key issue.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WORLD food standards body the Codex Alimentarius has released final drafts of three new global food safety guidelines, which it wants to formally approve at a meeting of its ruling commission in Geneva, Switzerland, in June and July.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has released expert advice telling food manufacturers to take better care to avoid contamination ready-to-eat meals with the toxin Listeria. It raised concern about a lack of care in preparation practices such as slicing of manufactured meat products, maintaining storage temperatures, ensuring good hygiene practices and properly training food handlers.…