Updating the Guidelines for Assessing Toxic Substances

October 4th, 2009 LONDON - World-Check, the leading provider of end-to-end risk management services, will be presenting a seminar in Stockholm, Sweden on 12 October. Tailored for practitioners tasked with compliance obligations required by the EU 3rd Anti Money Laundering Directive, the key note speaker at the event is Kenneth Rijock, a former money launderer and banking lawyer turned financial crime consultant.

September 22nd, 2009 BRNO, Czech Republic - - International HCH and Pesticides Association Calls for Immediate Action by EU BRNO, Czech Republic, September 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The health of at least 7 million inhabitants in Moldavia and Ukraine is seriously threatened by a stock of old pesticides. This has been reported by the International HCH and Pesticides Association (IHPA).

August 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, announced today that it is on track to register the 50 millionth unique chemical substance in the CAS REGISTRY on September 7. REGISTRY is the most comprehensive and high-quality compendium of publicly disclosed chemical information.

August 3rd, 2009 MORRIS TOWNSHIP, New Jersey - - Significant step taken in commercialization of HFO-1234yf as global solution to meet new regulation Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced today that its new low-global-warming-potential refrigerant for mobile air conditioning can be imported and used in Japan, a significant step toward global adoption of the new refrigerant. HFO-1234yf has been reviewed by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW); the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI); and the Ministry of the Environment (ME) in accordance with the Chemical Substances Control Law.

July 7th, 2009 MUNICH - The new EC Toys Directive is, like good education in the view of conservative pedagogues, clear and strict. The Directive has been promulgated last week (30 June) in the Official Journal of the EU and will therefore have to be transposed into national law (2009/48/EG, OJ L 170 30 June 2009, p.

July 1st, 2009 LONDON - Updated guidelines issued this week by the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) include the use of budesonide/formoterol in a single inhaler as rescue medication, in addition to its regular use as controller therapy, in selected adult patients poorly controlled at step 2 or selected adult patients with poorly controlled asthma at step 3(1). The BTS/SIGN guidelines recognise the evidence supporting the efficacy of Symbicort(TM) (budesonide/formoterol) Maintenance And Reliever Therapy (Symbicort SMART(TM)) as rescue medication instead of a short-acting beta2 agonist (SABA) in selected adult patients poorly controlled at step 2 (above BDP 400mcg) or selected adult patients with poorly controlled asthma at step 3(1).

June 21st, 2009 DEVENTER, The Netherlands - Tauw has been commissioned by the World Bank to be a consultant in how to approach old pesticides and organic contaminations that are difficult to decompose (POPs) in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The consultants at Tauw will take care of the transfer of knowledge about drawing up an inventory and how to deal with the old storage places of these toxic substances.

May 12th, 2009 COLUMBUS, Ohio - Links to Wikipedia records provided in collaboration with Wikipedia volunteers Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), a division of the American Chemical Society and the most comprehensive and authoritative source of chemical information, has launched a new, free, web-based resource called Common Chemistry(TM) (www.commonchemistry.org). (Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070817/CLF008LOGO ) (Photo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090513/CL15892 ) This resource is helpful to non-chemists and others who might know either a chemical name or a CAS Registry Number(R) of a common everyday chemical and want to pair both pieces of information.

April 21st, 2009 LONDON - The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today ruled that Pfizer's groundbreaking cinema advertising in which a man is seen coughing-up a dead rat did not breach the industry advertising code.(1) The advert, seen by cinema audiences across the UK, highlights the danger of obtaining medicines from unregulated sources (see www.realdanger.co.uk). Evidence shows there is a risk of these medicines being counterfeit, containing too little, too much or no active ingredient, or worse, toxic substances such as rat poison, boric acid or lead paint.(4) The ASA investigated the advert having received 63 complaints from members of the public.

April 21st, 2009 BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Pro-life campaigners are calling on Mr Michael McGimpsey MLA, Northern Ireland's health minister, to withdraw the controversial guidelines on abortion issued by his department last month, and to have the matter looked at again by the Province's devolved government. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) says that the department's advice to doctors is so seriously flawed that it is in breach of the law and is warning that doctors who approve abortions on the basis on the guidelines could risk prosecution.

November 2nd, 2009 Mass. considers clampdown on toxic substancesBOSTON — Massachusetts lawmakers are considering tighter restrictions on the use of toxic chemicals in consumer products as a way to encourage the use of safer alternatives. A bill co-sponsored by 38 legislators would make it the official policy of the state to press manufacturers to substitute toxic substances with the safest feasible alternative.

September 14th, 2009 URUMQUI - The blood samples of Urimqui's latest syringe attack victims showed no trace of radioactive, toxic or viral substances, such as AIDS, an expert at a Beijing-based laboratory has said. However, Director of Disease Control and Biological Security Office with China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Qian Jun, has said that the victims have showed signs of depression.

September 22nd, 2009 DOJ, FTC to consider updating antitrust guidelinesWASHINGTON — The federal government's antitrust enforcers said Tuesday they will update the 17-year-old guidelines used to determine whether a proposed corporate acquisition threatens competition. The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department, which share antitrust enforcement powers, said they will hold a series of five workshops in December and January to discuss potential changes to the guidelines.

November 10th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) is to look into irregularities of ownership of Platinum II, a US ship believed to be carrying toxic material and awaiting clearance for berthing and dismemberment at the Alang ship breaking yard for over a month, an official said Tuesday. This follows a note from union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Monday to the Gujarat government and other agencies advising that the controversial ship not be allowed to berth at Alang.

October 8th, 2009 SYDNEY - Green chemistry, an eco-friendly strategy, can create products that don't leave a toxic time bomb behind for future generations. Green chemistry is poised to reshape the way we shop and consume, and the fundamental production processes in industry.

October 15th, 2009 GADHINAGAR -India on Thursday denied permission to a US ship allegedly containing toxic wastes to anchor at the Alang Ship breaking Yard on the Gujarat coast. New Delhi has sent a firm message to first world countries that India can't be used as a dumping yard for their wastes.

September 15th, 2009 Robot sub hunts toxic waste off Italian coastROME — Italian authorities have dispatched a robot submarine with a video camera to a shipwreck off the Calabrian coast to see if if it's carrying radioactive waste dumped by the mob in a lucrative disposal racket. Calabrian prosecutor Bruno Giordano has cautioned in TV interviews that that until the contents of containers on the sunken ship are known, he can't say if the allegations by a mob turncoat about the ship are true.

December 30th, 2008 BEIJING - The Chinese government is preparing a 'pre-emptive' monitoring system to ensure food safety to prevent recurrence of the countrywide tained baby food scandal that killed six infants and sickened nearly 30,000. 'It means we will try to rid food problems by early detection, early warning and early intervention,' Su Zhi, deputy general director of health inspection and supervision bureau in the health ministry, said Wednesday.

August 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has determined that plastics, which are reputed to be virtually indestructible, decompose with surprising speed and release potentially toxic substances into the water. This is the first study to look at what happens over the years to the billions of pounds of plastic waste floating in the world's oceans.

September 30th, 2009 Obama administration calls for chemical-law reformWASHINGTON — With more and more toxic chemicals turning up in people's bodies and the environment, the Obama administration asked Congress Tuesday to draft a tougher law for how the government regulates tens of thousands of chemicals. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson called the 32-year-old statute governing toxic substances a flawed tool for protecting the public from the more than 80,000 chemicals that have been introduced on the market.