Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY DEIRDRE MASON

IF there are those who doubt whether the time, effort and resources invested in tracking down lost or orphaned sources of nuclear radiation is well spent, the tragic case of Alexander Litvinenko demonstrates only too clearly why this work is crucial.…

BY MARK ROWE

NANOTECHNOLOGY is enabling scientists to work on a range of auto tires that are lighter, cheaper and cooler when running. The introduction of such tires would have a profound impact on a range of auto-related issues, including probable reduction in petrol consumption and lighter vehicle frames.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

AFTER nearly five years of intense negotiation and an unprecedented degree of lobbying, the European Union’s (EU) REACH system (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) is close to final agreement by the EU institutions. The legislation, which will vitally affect the cost and availability of raw materials to the solvents and adhesive industries and – industry watchers fear – may potentially drive many smaller companies out of business, is strongly supported by health and environment organisations but fiercely opposed by industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A KEY textile chemical industry federation has said it is too early to predict whether dyes and related substances would fall foul of the registration process of the newly approved European Union (EU) REACH chemical control system. Under the final legislative text approved in December by the European Parliament and European Union (EU) Council of Ministers, there are no immediately blacklisted chemicals.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

CHANGES to the European Union’s (EU) regional and structural funds generally earmarked for the EU’s poorer areas mean that bidding for what is now a reduced pot will be even more competitive than before. In July this year, the EU agreed a cohesion policy package that, for the first time, meshed two budget headings: the cohesion fund and the structural assistance fund.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CHINA is being encouraged by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to boost its recycling capacity, a policy that could ultimately reduce Chinese demand for recycled materials from the west. There is currently an almost insatiable appetite in China for materials, given its breakneck industrialisation, but despite the waste this has generated, there has not been a parallel development in sophisticated waste management.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A SERIES of detailed and striking data-based images has been released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) starkly portraying western Europe’s density of development, and hence its exposure to environmental health problems. These make up the ‘Corine Land Cover 2000’ database, which offers information on land cover and land cover changes over the past decade in 32 European countries, using photo-interpretation of satellite images.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has dismissed claims from the European Commission that fees demanded by the Irish government for participation in environmental impact assessments (EIA) are illegal. The court has ruled that because the fees are low (Pounds 20 for local authority and Euro 45 for Planning Appeals Board inquiries), they are not an illegal "obstacle to the exercise of the rights of participation" under the EU’s EIA directives 85/337/EEC and 97/11/EC.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

AN IMPORTANT step forward in the development of intelligent exhaust systems has been signalled by an announcement that the European Investment Bank (EIB) is to provide Euro 60 million (US$76 million) of finance to the German firm of Eberspächer GmbH, a world leader in the manufacture of exhaust systems for automobiles.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has called on China to improve its environmental record regarding the mining and consumption of coal, to help reduce pollution overall. In its Environmental Performance Review of China, an OECD working party on environmental performance has recommended China introduces "cleaner coal technology, coal washing and flue gas desulphurisation".…