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In this issue |
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Top Story |
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ENVI Committee supports the phase out of hazardous chemicals in medical devices After multiple postponements, on 25th September the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) voted on the medical device regulation proposal and took a positive step towards a safer healthcare sector. The European Parliament’s Environment Committee agreed that substances which are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to the reproductive system (CMR), or that disrupt the endocrine system (EDC) should be phased out within eight years of the law’s adoption if safer alternatives are available. Additionally, phthalates shall be banned from 1st of January 2020 in medical devices that are invasive or used to transport and administer liquids into and from the body and employed for treatment on children, pregnant and nursing women (more). |
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Wrap Up |
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CleanMed Europe 2013 The fourth CleanMed Europe conference, Europe’s leading conference on the intersection between environmental sustainability and healthcare, took place two weeks ago, organised by the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) and Health Care Without Harm Europe (HCWH Europe). The conference drew together more than 300 leaders from the healthcare, public health and environmental sectors, including many people who have been working on healthcare sustainability locally and nationally. To read all about the event, please click here. |
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Mercury |
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Sayonara Mercury! A diplomatic conference started this week in Japan to sign an historic treaty – the Minamata Convention on Mercury - that will see the phase out of Mercury. Taking place in Kumamoto, near Minamata, the site of Japan's worst-ever industrial poisoning incident, delegates from 140 countries and regions are scheduled to attend the five-day conference (more). |
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Chemicals |
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The politics behind science policy In what started as an ordinary editorial by toxicology journal editors, led by Daniel Dietrich from the University of Konstanz, Germany, and which criticised the European Commission’s recommendations on endocrine disruptors as defying common sense, the debate has become rather controversial and involves more than 100 endocrine experts, including 20 journal editors-in-chief and 28 associate editors, in a fierce discussion over science and policy of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (more). |
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The European Commission to evaluate only four substances for inclusion in the RoHS directive The European Commission has announced they will just assess HBCDD, DEHP, BBP and DBP for inclusion in the list of restricted substances under the RoHS directive. This means that the methodology developed fails to prioritise any additional substances for assessment in this first review. However, no other substances will be evaluated in this first round, even if it states that substances subjected to previous assessment should be part of the first review. ChemSec, a member of HCWH Europe and who is following this issue closely, is disappointed that PVC and more brominated flame retardants (BFRs) had not been added to the list of substances under review (more). |
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Sustainable Procurement |
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Healthcare procurement must not come at 'expense of environment, health and workers' rights' It's not only the textile industry where the social and labour standards of production fall well below international law. In the production of healthcare goods, research has found risks of child labour, excessive overtime, violations of labour legislation, dangerous working environments and environmental degradation. Considering this, HCWH Europe organised a workshop that brought together EU policymakers and European public procurers to showcase best practices of green and social public procurement in the European healthcare sector (more). |
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Nanomaterials |
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Nanoparticles appear to be crossing into the placenta UK researchers have used an in vitro model to show that nanoparticles may be able to cross into the placenta. The model could be used for early stage nanoparticle screening. Interference with the placenta's normal function may have adverse effects on foetal development. A team led by Margaret Saunders at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol, UK, has tested the toxicity, transport and uptake of nanoparticles using placental cells known as BeWo (more). |
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Events |
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Warsaw, Poland: The Global Health & Climate Summit Date: 16 November 2013 The Climate and Health Summit 2013 will coordinate action across all sectors to protect human health from the impacts of climate change. Drawing on the 2011 Durban Health Sector Call to Action the Summit will build a road-map for the international health community to work towards in the run up to the 2015 climate negotiations in Paris (more). |
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Innovation |
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A new way to optimise medical equipment Floow2 is a sharing platform where health institutions can rent out and/or sell idle capacity to each other. Capacity is used here in the broadest sense of the word: materials and equipment, facilities such as an OR, MRI, conference rooms, and skills and knowledge of staff. By doing more with what we already have, we reduce overcapacity of goods and equipment, which means less waste of raw materials and energy and contributes to a more sustainable way of doing business (more). |
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Publications |
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Characterizing Gas-Particle Interactions of Phthalate Plasticizer Emitted from Vinyl Flooring Phthalates are widely used as plasticizers, and improved ability to predict emissions of phthalates is of interest because of concern about their health effects. An experimental chamber was used to measure emissions of di-2-ethylhexyl-phthalate (DEHP) from vinyl flooring, with ammonium sulfate particles introduced to examine their influence on the emission rate and to measure the partitioning of DEHP onto airborne particles (more). |
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Endocrine disruptors in the healthcare sector HCWH Europe published this month a new information leaflet on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) targeted towards health professionals. It explains what EDCs are, why we should be concerned, who is at risk and where they are found in the healthcare sector. View the leaflet here. |
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Notice: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for research and educational purposes. As all these articles are public, some links might expire after some days after their release date. |
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