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S/N |
Title |
Synopsis |
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I. Subject Area: Environmental Policy and Regulation |
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1 |
Prior Written Consent Required For Waste Shipments Under New EU Proposal |
The European Commission has on 1 July 2003 tightened the control of trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes. The new legislation would require documentation verifying that waste shipments have been delivered, disposed or reprocessed before the shipment can be considered completed. |
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2 |
European Parliament Votes for Legislation To Boost Recycling Rate To 55 Percent |
The European Parliament intends to implement a new legislation to increase the rate of recovery and recycling of packaging waste from 25% to 55%. The new legislation would also set recovery targets for individual materials such as glass, metal, plastics and wood. |
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3 |
The California Integrated Waste Management Board has on 1 July 2003, introduced a new regulation to curb illegal tire storage and disposal. Haulers are required to carry with them copies of manifests and trip logs during transportation of 10 or more used tires. |
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II. Subject Area: Environmental Technology |
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4 |
BP Solar has carried out a project to incorporate solar panels on a church to assess the sound insulation benefits of the panels. |
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III. Subject Area: Environmental Health |
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A |
Topic: Vector |
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5 |
West Nile Virus Found in Birds
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Scientists revealed that the deadly West Nile virus has been found in a high proportion of British birds. The birds were found to have antibodies to the virus. |
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B |
Topic: Food |
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6 |
Think You Have Food Poisoning?
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A website developed by the Michigan State University National Food Safety and Toxicology Center (NFSTC) aims to help victims of food poisoning to determine if they are part of a food-borne outbreak cluster. |
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7 |
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it will increase inspections of imported food this year and implement new regulations to keep food safe from terrorists. |
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C |
Topic: Smoking |
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8 |
Row Over Smoke- Free Hospitals
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Executives at one NHS trust came under fire for creating smoking rooms in the new Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. However, there were also others who suggested that banning smoking completely in hospitals is unethical and unfair for patients. |
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D |
Topic: Legislative Issues |
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9 |
EPA Proposes New Drinking Water Rules but No New Regulations for Contaminants
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new rules to safeguard drinking water from byproducts formed during chemical disinfection and from a parasite spread by human and animal waste. EPA would require water treatment systems to monitor and document where the highest concentrations are in their pipelines. |
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IV Subject Area: Waste Recycling |
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10 |
All local authorities in the UK will be required to set up a scheme for recycling of household batteries under a new European directive. The deposited batteries will be exported to a recycling plant in France, as there are no such facilities in the UK. |
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11 |
New York Reactivates Recycling Scheme Targeted At State Fairgoers |
The New York State Fair reactivates its recycling scheme targeted at visitors to this year event. To attract fairgoers' attention, 40 giant plastic soda bottles will be placed in strategic locations throughout the fair grounds for use as collection bins for recycle of glass, plastic or aluminium beverage bottles and cans. |
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V Subject Area: Environmental News |
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12 |
UK's Environmental Audit Committee Says Expansion In Aviation Is Unsustainable And Unacceptable |
The Environmental Audit Committee reported the forecast growth in UK aviation, along with the increase of emissions from aircrafts, would accentuate global warming and defeat the government's commitment to cut carbon dioxide emission. |
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13 |
Government officials and scientists attending the "Earth Observation Summit" have called for speedy development of an integrated method to observe climate change so as to greatly improve weather forecasting. |
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SUMMARY REPORT
Period Covered: 28 Jul to 3 Aug 2003
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Item 3 |
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Summary
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The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) had, on 1 July 2003, introduced a new regulation to curb illegal tire storage and disposal. It requires documenting the transportation of 10 or more waste or used tires. If haulers don't possess copies of manifests and trip logs, they could face fines up to US$25,000. However, California tire retreaders contend the rule is both too broad and too expensive. They asked the CIWMB to exempt retreaders from the cumbersome paperwork process and instead accept work order receipts that detailed where tires are going. They also asked for at least a six-month grace period before the California Highway Patrol commences to enforce the requirements. It is estimated that about 1.7 million tires were retreaded in California in 2002. In response to the request from the tire retreaders, the CIWMB has agreed to look into possible alternatives for retreaders and it will make a decision soon. Meanwhile, the California Highway Patrol will withhold the enforcement of the manifesting requirements for hauling of waste or used tires. |
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Reference |
www.nexis.com (access by subscription only) |
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Item 4 |
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Summary
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UK's BP Solar has incorporated 174 solar panels into the roof design of a new church hall to assess whether the panels are able to provide sound insulation and reduce the amount of resonant sound passing through the structure. The test was carried out on the church as planes from the nearby Heathrow Airport flies over every 60 seconds, and the noise pollution in the area exceeds the limits recommended by the World Health Organization. The £140,000 system was funded mainly by UK's Department of Trade and Industry in its initiative to support large photovoltaic field trials. The objective of the project is to get feedback on the performance of the system and the building, and allowing other designs of a similar nature in the future to use solar panels as an acoustic barrier as well as to generate electricity. |
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Reference |
http://www.sparksdata.co.uk/refocus/fp_showdoc.asp?docid=19739932&accnum=1&topics= |
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Summary
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The West Nile Virus was found in more than 20 species in all, including crows, magpies, swallows, chickens, turkeys and ducks. The birds were found to have antibodies to the virus. They were healthy and showed no symptoms. Researchers said that there was no immediate threat to humans but warned that climate change may increase the risk of the virus spreading to humans. |
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Reference |
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Summary
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A website first launched in November 2002 was developed by the Michigan State University National Food Safety and Toxicology Center (NFSTC) aims to help victims of food poisoning determine if they are part of a food-borne outbreak cluster in a few Michigan counties. The idea is to allow victims of food poisoning to compare notes by filling out an online survey to determine how many other users with the same symptoms ate the same foods from the same source at the same time. |
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Reference |
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Summary
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With the new regulations, food makers would also have to keep records of where they bought ingredients and where they shipped their final products. These new measures could also help fight unintentional food poisoning by requiring food companies to provide the FDA with records within eight hours of suspecting their products were tainted. However, while the food industry would like to cooperate to prevent terrorism, it is feared that the regulations would be too cumbersome and cause gridlock in the system. |
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Reference |
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/22/earlyshow/health/main564573.shtml |
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Summary
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There are split views over whether to allow smoking in and around NHS hospitals in Britain. It was suggested that banning smoking completely in hospitals is unethical. Executives at one NHS trust came under fire for approving four smoking rooms in the new Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast at a cost of 390 000 pounds. The Chief Executive of the hospital defended his decision by saying that hospitals should provide limited and controlled smoking facilities for patients as they recognize the distress of terminally ill patients and relatives who may be smokers. |
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Reference |
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Item 10 |
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Summary
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Cheshire is the first local authorities in the UK to set up a recycling scheme for domestic batteries. Under the battery recycling scheme, bright yellow "battery banks" have been installed at each of the Household Waste and Recycling Centres and will accept all types of household batteries for recycling.The deposited batteries will be exported to a recycling plant in France, as there are no such facilities in the UK. All local authorities will soon be required to collect domestic batteries for recycling under a new European directive. A survey carried out in the UK found that the average household uses 21 batteries a year and the majority of used batteries end up in landfill sites. When buried, the battery coating can corrode allowing toxic heavy metals such a lead and mercury to leak out and hence pose a real danger to the environment. |
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Reference |
www.nexis.com (access by subscription only) |
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Item 11 |
New York Reactivates Recycling Scheme Targeted At State Fairgoers |
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Summary
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The New York State Fair reactivates its recycling scheme targeted at fairgoers. Under a joint partnership programme, the American Plastics Council has donated 40 giant plastic soda bottles, each about 5 feet tall, for the state fair. One million people are expected to visit this year's state fair. Fairgoers will not miss these giant plastic soda bottles used as collection bins for recycle of glass, plastic or aluminium beverage bottles and cans. Several hundred smaller recycling containers will also be placed throughout the fair grounds for collection of recyclable wastes. Fairgoers of the state fair began recycling plastic cups, plates and eating utensils in 1989 under a programme with Mobil Chemical Co. Some of the used cups and plates returned to the fair in the form of plastic benches, combs, rulers and flowerpots. However, the programme was discontinued in 1997 because of high costs. |
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Reference |
www.nexis.com (access by subscription only) |
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Item 12 |
UK's Environmental Audit Committee Says Expansion In Aviation Is Unsustainable And Unacceptable |
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Summary
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The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has published a report projecting that the forecast growth in UK aviation, along with the growth in emissions, will accentuate global warming and defeat the government's recent commitment to a 60% cut in carbon dioxide emission by 2050. EAC's report claimed that by including the environmental costs, the economic benefit for an expansion in runways would be negated. It stated that the forecast increase in passengers - from 180 million a year to over 500 million by 2030 - would have a huge impact on global warming. A critic said that if market rules could be liberalized and airlines were allowed to fly direct to their destination, airport expansion would not be needed as there would be far fewer take-off slots and far fewer flights. As take-off and landing were the points at which greatest emissions were created, this would mark a significant decrease in aviation pollution. |
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Reference |
http://www.edie.net/gf.cfm?L=left_frame.html&R=http://www.edie.net/news/Archive/7320.cfm |
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Item 13 |
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Summary
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Government officials and scientists participating in the "Earth Observation Summit" have called for speedy development of an integrated method to observe climate change and other environmental trends on Earth. The participants pledged to move ahead with an "international, comprehensive, coordinated and sustained" monitoring mechanism within 10 years time. The aim is to link the numerous individual land-, sea- and space-based climate observation assets to better predict environmental changes and natural disasters and limit their impact. Such a system is expected to greatly improve weather forecasting, particularly with major trends such as El Nino, crop yield estimates, the monitoring of water and air quality, boost airline safety and promote climate-related health research. |
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Reference |
www.nexis.com (access by subscription only) |