Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Free Trade Area (EFTA) Court has thrown out a bid by two environmental groups to stop the Norwegian government offering tax privileges to natural gas exploration companies working in the inhospitable Snøhvit field, off the far north coast of Norway.…

KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATION from European Union-funded research has continued to offer improvements to the way that EU water utilities work. For instance, the European Commission-funded MicroChem initiative has developed miniaturised laboratory-on-a-chip systems suitable for rapid field testing of water streams. They examine water in tiny pictolitre quantities, flowing through microbore channels produced by photolithographic etching.…

BY MARK ROWE
IN the days of the Soviet Union, many millions of men and women had a choice of one state-manufactured brand of shampoo, toothpaste or soap. If anything, the authorities managed to limit even further access to such “indulgences” as perfume.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HEADS of government at the recent G8 summit in France have committed their countries to reducing the environmental threat posed by oil tankers. A communiqué committed their governments to accelerate the introduction of a safety code for flag states, establish mandatory pilotage in narrow, restricted or congested waters, improve inspections and other measures.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPEAN Union (EU) beef producers will be able to retain most of their existing production-linked subsidies in spite of a major reform of the Common Agricultural Policy agreed by farm ministers of the 15 member countries early today (Thursday).…

BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND is promoting the use of natural gas-powered taxis to improve its environmental record. Purchasers will be offered cheap loans and technical and logistical support for using clean-burning natural gas.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIAN firm Dynamic Automation Systems (DAS) has invented an autonomous navigation system called MINEGEM? (which it has dubbed the “smart loader”), allowing operators to control machines remotely from the surface.

Using an autopilot system the operator can control several machines at once, ordering them to pick up materials, carry them to a dump point and return to the draw point.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EVERY year it seems, the international community has a pet topic in which it is fashionable to promote good behaviour, and this year the favoured cause seems to be water conservation. The World Bank, the UN Environment Programme and others have all produced weighty tomes on the need to conserve drinking water stocks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PARLIAMENTARY Assembly of the Council of Europe is debating a plan to extend the European Convention on Human Rights with an additional protocol, guaranteeing European citizens decent environmental standards. If the proposal is carried forward, it would entail international lawyers drafting a clear definition of “a healthy environment” and the convention extension would “oblige states to protect individuals from environmental nuisances harmful or dangerous to health;” it is being promoted by the council’s committee on environment, agriculture and local and regional affairs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation of the World Bank is lending US$17.5 million in INDRupees to Indian textile company Alok Industries Ltd, allowing the Mumbai (Bombay)-based company to expand and modernise its facilities and meet growing demand from domestic and international customers.…