Commissioner snussed out of job

EU Health Commissioner John Dalli has resigned over corruption allegations involving tobacco legislation, but denies wrongdoing.

The medical technology sector in Ireland is increasingly confident about the future of its business according to a survey, published to mark the launch of Medical Technology Industry Excellence Awards 2012.

Simon Coveney, the agriculture minister, is visiting several EU capitals to build alliances on forthcoming reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

A new Eurobarometer on attitudes towards tobacco shows that Ireland has the lowest average age of starting smoking at 16.4 years, compared to an EU average of 17.6 years.

The EU has asked Russian authorities to lift their ban on an annual €75m export trade in live pigs, cattle, sheep, and goats from the EU.

The European Union has criticised Russia’s decision to prohibit imports of pigs, cattle, sheep and goats from the 27-nation bloc and said it will use “all opportunities” to ensure the ban is lifted.

Up to 70% of EU-based credit websites checked in an EU “sweep” failed to meet consumer law requirements, a survey revealed today.

CONSUMERS are losing over €22 billion a year buying faulty goods for which they cannot get replacements or their money refunded.

AN increasing number of potentially deadly illnesses can no longer be treated by antibiotics, due to over-use.

WILL the EU add to the suffering of one of its peripheral member states sentenced to decades of financial austerity, by closing down its poultry industry?

DESPITE their name, RIP cigarettes are designed to save lives.

ONE-THIRD of the food we produce is wasted as shopkeepers and consumers dump enough food every year to feed the millions starving in the world.

THE IFA has welcomed the European Parliament’s vote yesterday in favour of rules for food labelling, notably compulsory country-of-origin labelling for meat from pig, sheep, goat and poultry.

IRISH and European food experts want the EU to prepare a crisis management and communications strategy in light of the recent E coli outbreak in Germany.

GERMANY has expressed hope the “worst” of a killer bacteria outbreak is over as the European Union upped its aid offer to farmers hit by government warnings against eating raw vegetables.

The deadly E.coli outbreak appears to be on the decline, Germany’s health minister said today.

IRISH farmers will be able to receive compensation if they have lost export sales as a result of the E coli outbreak, but the amount has yet to be fixed.

A dispute erupted today over compensation payments to European farmers hit by tumbling sales during the deadly E. coli outbreak.

Germany has been warned to take more care over its food safety announcements in the wake of the E.coli fiasco, in which Germany pointed a finger at Spanish cucumbers, then at local beansprouts, before backtracking on both.

IF a brave Irish consumer wanted to eat a Spanish cucumber, it would be difficult now that they have been removed from the shelves of most large retailers.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the E.coli bacteria responsible for a deadly outbreak that has left 18 dead and sickened hundreds in Europe is a new strain that has never been seen before.

MEAT and milk from cloned animals can continue to be sold and does not need to be labelled after member states and the European Parliament failed to agree new controls.

GOING abroad for health care, especially for rare ailments and cancers, should be easier for patients under new legislation agreed by the European Parliament.

Baby bottle manufacturers were urged today to act now to remove from their products a potentially dangerous chemical which will be outlawed from next June.

MORE than one million signatures have been gathered in a legal bid to “freeze” genetically modified (GM) crop cultivation in the EU.

A five-year ban on cloning animals for food in Europe was proposed today – a move designed to give legal clarity for the first time to the cloning controversy.

COUNTRIES will be able to ban the growing of genetically modified crops for socio-economic and ethical reasons under new proposals for the controversial but multi-billion euro industry.

SMALL wool merchants have recently expressed fears that European Union rules on the storage of wool will force many of them out of the business, a member of the European Parliament has warned.

Anti-smoking campaigners today called for pictures of the health effects of smoking to be emblazoned across 80% of cigarette packs in future.

The European Commission today launched a €15.8m anti-tobacco campaign targeting the young after a survey showed that 35% of 15-24-year-olds are smokers.

THE Irish Farmers Association yesterday called on the European Commission to reinstate a full ban on Brazilian beef imports.

Air travellers fighting for refunds and compensation after being stranded by the volcanic ash crisis can use a standard Europe-wide “complaints package” available from today.

COMPLAINTS about children’s toys, as well as cars, clothes and electrical items top the list in relation to products sold in Europe, the EU’s annual report on consumer goods found.

FARMERS may have to cope with radically changed disease eradication rules in conjunction with a reformed Common Agricultural Policy after 2013.

AUJESZKY’S DISEASE has been practically eliminated from Ireland following two national testing phases, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith has disclosed.

THE European Commission is to launch an animal health law next year, a conference was told in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan.

THE agriculture ministers from the south and the North have agreed an All-Island Animal Health and Welfare Strategy.

ONE-in-10 items of children’s clothing with long cords or drawstrings are potentially dangerous, an EU survey has found.

A GENETICALLY modified potato, resistant to two antibiotics, has been approved for industrial use and animal feed after the European Commission said it was safe for people, animals and the environment.

Ireland has secured the Research and Innovation portfolio in the European Commission.