An official British forum has called on industry to address risks from use of medium-chained chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs). A draft report prepared by the UK authorities suggests a need for risk reduction and EU-wide controls of some kind are likely to emerge in about a year.

According to the UK chemicals stakeholders, MCCPs present substantial risks to the environment. They are persistent, potentially bioaccumulative and toxic to aquatic organisms.

Iceland has proposed a bill that landfill sites be monitored by their owners for 30 years after closure to ascertain any environmental damage the site may cause. The bill, which replaced the existing waste management law, was introduced on 15 Nov 2002. The bills will incorporate requirements laid down by the European Union directive, EU Directive 1999/31 "Concerning the Landfill of Waste", which calls for the creation of community waste management plans, guidelines for landfill fee structures and environmental monitoring of the sites for 30 years after closure.

The bill will also allow waste district authorities to charge fees to cover the cost of waste disposal by incineration or landfill placement.

A second bill will impose recycling fees on producers and importers of certain consumer goods. This aims to help pay for the goods' end-of-life disposal. The targeted goods include automobiles, vehicle tyres, plastics used in agricultural practices and plastic and cardboard packaging used for juices and drinks. These fees will be based on weight. The current legislation imposes recycling fees on certain types of hazardous wastes.

The UK has proposed to tighten sewage sludge treatment regulations to help reduce the risk of pathogens entering the food chain via for example grazing animals, with effect from early 2003. This includes strengthening requirements for sludge treatment processes to ensure that potential pathogens are not transmitted into the food chain. The revised Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations would also ban the use of untreated sludge on farmland on which food crops are cultivated. Among those affected are owners of private sewage treatment works, contractors, farmers and landowners.

Existing regulations do not require the water authorities to look for disease causing pathogens e.g. Hepatitis A, Salmonella and E. coli 0157 bacterium but does require monitoring for substances such as nitrogen and metals.

The US Department of Energy's stance that the future of transportation includes hydrogen was outlined in the "National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap", a plan which was unveiled at the Global Forum on Personal Transportation, Michigan, USA. The roadmap details the steps to be taken towards this goal, including development of detailed research, and development plans for hydrogen production, delivery, storage, and conversion as well as end-use applications.

Hydrogen is available from diverse and domestic sources in the USA including biomass or wind power which has virtually no impact on the environment. It is also a highly efficient energy system that produces near-zero emissions.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a research facility of the US Department of Energy (DOE), is funding the Zero Energy Home (ZEH) initiative. The initiative aims to launch the concept of zero energy homes into the mainstream home building industry.

The ZEH will be a building that produces all the energy it uses yearly. It will be a combination of state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction and appliances and renewable energy systems available on the commercial market.

The ZEH will rely heavily on active and passive solar systems to produce its energy and the home's meter will be made to run backward, crediting the homeowners when their house puts power back onto the grid.

A study carried out at Stanford University linked the impact on medical care with air pollution. According to the study, older Americans in the most polluted parts of the country are significantly more likely to need medical treatment, particularly for lung ailments. It suggests that reducing pollution could cut medical spending.

The study found that air pollution significantly increases medical care needs, even after controlling for region, population size, education, income, cigarette use and obesity. As race plays a large role in health, the study focused only on whites.

Specifically, the study found hospital admissions for respiratory problems were, on average, 19% higher in the 37 areas with the highest air pollution, compared with the 37 areas with the least amount of pollution.

Similarly, outpatient care was 18% higher and hospital admissions were 10% higher.

Studies carried out in the US revealed that exposure to dioxins may be the most significant environment risk factor related to adult-onset, or Type II, diabetes.

Dioxin is a highly toxic chemical byproduct of industrial processes from plastic manufacturing and paper bleaching to waste incineration. Although the chemical is usually present in minute quantities, it can accumulate in fatty tissue and cause a variety of health problems, even at very low levels of exposure. It is a known endocrine disruptor and diabetes is a disease of the endocrine system.

Studies have shown that American war veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange, which had high levels of dioxin, had a 50% higher incidence of Type II diabetes.

In a move to cut both costs and pollution, Austria's environment ministry is urging chemical companies to sell services to their industrial customers, rather than substances.

The initiative was drawn up by the ministry in collaboration with 15 chemical firms. Instead of selling substances, chemical manufacturers would sell specific services involving the use of their products, which they would continue to own.

According to the study, the industrial client should save about 10 - 15% in costs, because they would not have to maintain high levels of expertise in safe chemicals' handling. At the same time, the efficiency of chemicals' use could be enhanced.

The study estimated that the chemicals' usage by some 4,000 companies in Austria would be cut by 53,000 tonnes with chemicals leasing.

A European Union study of 19 European cities by the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network to Establish an Aerosol Climatology (EARLINET) shows that the Greek cities, Athens and Thessaloniki, have the highest levels of airborne particles and ozone in Europe.

The study was intended to establish a comprehensive climatological database on suspended particulates and variability of aerosols over Europe.

The high levels of particulates in the two Greek cities are mainly due to vehicle emissions. Both cities also suffer from pollution blown in from neighbouring Turkey, the Black Sea, Central Europe and the Sahara. Greece also reported the highest number of days (68) during the summer period of 2002 when ground level ozone levels were above the EU threshold of 180m g/m³ average over one hour. The threshold was also breached over all the 5 months monitored in France (56 days), Italy (52), Spain (48) and at least one exceedance in one or more of the 27 European countries. Only Ireland and Finland recorded no exceedances for the sixth consecutive year.

To alleviate this pollution problem, the Greek government has improved the public transport with trams and new diesel-run buses, replacing the old petrol-run fleet. The government is also planning to implement a US$277 million programme to curb industrial and transport emissions via stricter emission limits and financial incentives for home heating unit upgrades and lower-polluting vehicle engines by 2005.