Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY MONICA DOBIE

RESEARCHERS from the USA’s Agricultural Research Service have developed methods to lessen odour-causing compounds in pigs’ manure, a constant environmental problem. Cutting pigs’ protein intake by using less soybean meal and balancing diets with crystalline amino acids, reduces the stench of manure and pig flatulence: a 1% reduction in dietary crude protein resulted in pigs emitting 8-10% less ammonia, which makes slurry smell bad.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DETAILS of a comprehensive plan to mitigate environmental and social problems caused by a planned Vietnam fluorspar (and tungsten) open cast mine have been released by the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which is expected to support the project.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FIRST public operation of a hydrogen fuel-cell bus in China has begun, plying an 18.2 km route in Beijing. A hydrogen-refuelling centre will also be fully operational by September. The UN Development Programme and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) have supported the project, which will see three more fuel-cell buses operating in Beijing later this year.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

LEAD manufacturers may be able to increase sales by offering their product to paint companies in developing countries without restrictions on consumer paint production, US researchers have indicated.

The University of Cincinnati analysed 80 consumer paint samples of various colours and brands from India, Malaysia, China and Singapore to determine the amount of lead and compare them with the US’s stringent standards.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has declared legal special funding systems in Austria for renewable energy and combined heat and power for public district heating, after the Austrian government changed the operation of these subsidies. The system for renewables had drawn particular criticism from the Commission, because it involved consumers paying a fixed price for green energy consumed in Austria.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Commission proposals for a new European Union (EU) waste framework directive have been roundly criticised at a Brussels seminar arranged by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Erika Mink, environmental director of packaging giant Tetra Pak, speaking for the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment, said Brussels’ planned waste prevention targets could become burdensome.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a major public consultation exercise, which will include fish farms, to forge a common European Union (EU) method for assessing the environmental risks posed by fish feed. EFSA is not happy that in the European Union "no specific environmental risk assessment guidance exists for the aquatic compartment".…

BY MARK ROWE, in Munich

EUROPEAN governments have little choice but to embrace nuclear energy as part of their future power strategies, according to the head of the European Commission’s research and policy body. Roland Schenkel, Director General of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), which operates independently from private or national interests, said nuclear energy would play a hugely significant role in meeting Europe’s energy needs in coming decades, and that the need for European countries to address the issue of energy security was immediate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GERMANY’S Ruhr valley has long been a symbol of industrial decline and high polluting coal-based industry, so it is apt that a planned 750 MW power station, using the latest clean-coal technology should be sited here. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced plans to lend operators STEAG Aktiengesellschaft, Germany, and ENV AG, Austria, Euro 420 million: half the development costs of a power station in Duisburg-Walsum.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank is pumping US$125 million into Ghana’s Ahafo gold mine project, which is controlled by a subsidiary of the USA-based Newmont Mining Corporation. Part of the money will help tackle criticism from aid groups that the open pit project will displace or affect the livelihoods of 9,000 people.…