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…
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) says it is creating a ‘pool’ of patient experts to strengthen the role and voice of patients in IMI activities at both strategic and operational levels. IMI says it has always involved patients in its work, adding, “now the plan is to take patient engagement at IMI to the next level.”…
The international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) welcomes the release today of the long-anticipated World Health Organization (WHO) strategy on the prevention and control of snakebite envenoming, with the ambitious targets to cut in half the number of snakebite deaths and cases of disability by 2030. Governments and funding organisations must step up…
By Eli Hadzhieva,Guest Contributor A report released by Market Research Reports (MRR) has concluded that “the fact that slivers of mineral wool when inhaled can cause lung disease affects the demand for the overall mineral wool market”. The report also focused on the need for precautions to be taken when installing the material. The MRR…
