In a year that will have a packed agenda, calls are being made for the health risks of Man-made Vitreous Fibres (MMVF), also known as mineral wool, to be prioritised, both by the European Union and the UK post-Brexit. MMVF is used for thermal and acoustic insulation in homes and businesses. Since asbestos was banned…
The Commission says it welcomes the provisional agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on the recast Drinking Water Directive. The agreement is based on the proposal adopted by the Commission in February 2018, as a direct follow-up to the Right2Water European Citizens’ Initiative. It aims to improve the quality of drinking water and access…
An overview of how auditors across the European Union scrutinise public health has been published today by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) on behalf of the Contact Committee of EU supreme audit institutions (SAIs). Altogether 24 SAIs have contributed to this second Audit Compendium of the Contact Committee. Public health is mainly the responsibility…
Representatives from the European Member States in the EU Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCOPAFF) have voted to ban the neurotoxic pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl from the EU market, a historic move that has been applauded by health and environment groups. Genon K. Jensen, Executive Director of the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL),…
Researchers from the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp have spotted tiger mosquitoes in Belgium this year, finding eggs, larvae and adults of Aedes albopictus. The species was located in three motorway parking areas in both Wallonia and Flanders. This supports an earlier indication that the mosquito was travelling to Belgium with motor vehicle traffic from…
The European Commission has identified the use of generic and biosimilar medicines as crucial for EU health systems in report released on Friday. Detailing the potential benefits of generic and biosimilar medicines use, the European Commission identified the urgency to foster the use of biosimilar medicines specifically, an urgency heightened due to the expenditure rate…
The European Academies of Science and Medicine has called for “evidence-based diagnosis and therapy” in response to the WHO inclusion of Traditional Chinese Medicine in its standard framework. It says that just because the World Health Organisation includes a chapter on Traditional Chinese Medicine in its new International Classification of Diseases, it is not automatically safe to use without…
A new study by a group of US scientists compared two groups of flame retardants – respectively polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organophosphate ester flame retardants (OPFRs) – for a number of properties and warns that replacing the former by the latter is likely a regrettable substitution. Significant evidence of the links between exposure to…
A newly-developed medical device promises to offer fresh hope to millions of women in Europe who suffer from a prolapsed bladder, a common condition in women often caused by childbirth and menopause. When pelvic floor muscles and tissues are stretched or become weak, the bladder can drop and bulge through this layer and into the vagina….
The European Parliament was the venue last week for a roundtable discussion highlighting the potential health risks of mineral wool, or Man-made Vitreous Fibres (MMVF) as it is also known. Mineral wool is a type of thermal insulation made from rocks and minerals. After asbestos was banned in most countries in the 1990s, the de facto replacement…
