Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LONDONERS accept air pollution in their city is bad, but Glasgow citizens, maybe surprisingly, think their community is pretty clean, with a more positive assessment about local smog than residents in Luxembourg City and Copenhagen. These opinions were culled by a European Commission Eurobarometer poll, which says 84% of Londoners “strongly or somewhat” agree that local air pollution is “a big problem”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project has developed technology that enabling local authorities to assess contaminants on brownfield sites, without having to drill boreholes and take physical samples. The HYGEIA consortium has developed a high-precision positioning system for ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys, which is necessary for collecting high-resolution 3-D data.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
*France’s Sederma isolated enzymes from deep-sea bacteria Thermus thermophilus for commercial skin products protecting against UV and heat exposure;

*American researchers NOAA report Gulf of Mexico deep-sea sponge deep Forcepia is being clinically investigated for anti-cancer medicines;

*A glycoprotein protecting Antarctic fish species against cold is being developed for surgery, plant nursery and fish farming uses.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FRENCH government has adopted delaying tactics in its opposition to a proposed European Union (EU) directive establishing welfare rules for broiler chickens, calling for additional studies into the legislation. It asked the EU Council of Ministers to refer a European Commission impact study on the directive to the council’s special agriculture committee.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has authorised the payment by France of Euro 325 million aid to public rendering companies in 2003 for storing and destroying meat and bone meal while transporting and destroying fallen stock and slaughterhouse waste. If Brussels had branded this illegal state aid, it could have ordered its recovery by Paris.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FRANCE has been ordered to repay Euro 14.52 million to the European Commission following the discovery that the country had made “ineligible use of new planting rights” in order to claim European Union (EU) aid in the wine sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRENCH scientists have pinpointed the area of the brain, which is particularly responsive to nicotine addiction, while identifying how the chemical hunts down receptors that are particularly susceptible to its effects. Experiments on mice at France’s Institut Pasteur have shown that nicotine dependence is linked to a specific molecule, the ß2 subunit of brain receptors detecting and reacting to nicotine, themselves located in the ventral tegmental area.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and MONICA DOBIE
A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-sponsored research project has been launched to create practical cell-factories producing a genetically-modified haemogoblin, the key element of blood that carries oxygen around the body. The Euro Blood Substitutes initiative wants to use ‘Aspergillus niger’ fungus and ‘Escherichia coli’ bacteria to create super-charged haem proteins, helping create reliable supplies of alternative blood products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PROACTIVE competition inquiry has been launched into the European Union’s (EU) natural gas sector, with the aim of rooting out anti-competitive practices. If the European Commission discovers instances of gas companies breaking existing EU competition law, legal action could follow.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BELGIUM has joined the growing list of European Union (EU) member states censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to properly police EU fishing rules in its waters. And again, as with France, Ireland, Denmark and others, the Belgians have been found breaking the Common Fishing Policy (CFP) in a number of ways over the years.…