Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo

IN the last 18 months, the reputation of the Japanese nuclear industry has been dragged through the mud in the wake of a series of scandals. So the very last thing it needed was a safety scare at one of its main plants.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE

AS paint and coatings demand abroad looks increasingly enticing, players in the South Korean paint and coatings industry are expanding their global reach, seeking to improve brand recognition and their sales prospects.

With limited growth potential predicted among players in the mature South Korea domestic market, companies are also looking to emerging paint and coatings technologies and other areas within the Asia-Pacific region to drive sales forward.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

FEW issues have proved as globally divisive as the ability to modify crops genetically. For years, a line has been drawn between the cautious European Union (EU) and the go-for-it United States, which has seen them at loggerheads over trading genetically modified crops.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

ALTHOUGH the European Commission has concluded that there is no immediate need for any revision of the packaging and packaging waste directive 94/62/EC, a 2006 report on options for the packaging industry trumpets Brussels’ view that there is long term work required.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

WITH packaged goods moving with ever greater freedom and speed between the member states of the European Union (EU), it is of no surprise that the EU has legislated extensively to regulate the industry. It is a raison d’être of the EU to create harmonised rules of key economic importance to oil trade between its member states, and also to minimise cross-border problems such as pollution.…

BY MARK ROWE

A BRITISH company is making footbridges entirely out of recycled plastic bottles. In one of the first constructions of its kind Centriforce Products has built a 450 metre boardwalk in conjunction with the National Trust and the Bassenthwaite Reflections Project, (an environmental scheme), from more than 500,000 plastic bottles, to enable walkers in the Lake District to cross a historically slippery stretch of the shore of Derwent Water.…

BY MARK ROWE

WEATHER-resistant and anti-corrosion coatings and sealants are being developed with the aid of nanotechnology that will significantly enhance the lifetime operation of buildings and property across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Most of the developments are expected to be particularly welcome in the Asia-Pacific region, where the hot and humid climate imposes a more onerous regime on paints and coatings.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has told the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to investigate the risks of using nanotechnology in food packaging and food amidst growing concern about potential health risks. These were raised by the European Union’s scientific committee on emerging and newly identified health risks, which warned current risk assessment systems for chemicals were not appropriate for nanoparticles.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Organization for Standardization (NOTE – USES AMERICAN SPELLING FOR ITS NAME) has launched a new CD-ROM containing its ISO 14000 group of environmental management standards, including those on greenhouse gas emissions accounting and verification. It also includes the new ISO 14065:2007 standard that lays down requirements for accrediting bodies auditing and certifying climate change and emissions trading schemes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CHINA may be rightly attacked for poor environmental standards, but it is doing well regarding electric motorcycles, with 10 million being sold every year. This compares with just 50,000 in India, where petrol is king – a problem that is the focus of a new International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank loan.…