Europe Agri articles from February 2003

Europe Agri archives from February 2003

BIOTERRORISM: WHO PROPOSES GUIDELINES FOR REDUCING POTENTIAL TERRORIST RISKS.
February 14, 2003... "Guidance for establishing and strengthening prevention and response systems" reviews the possibility of building basic prevention, surveillance and response capacities. Outbreaks of foodborne disease, whether unintentional or caused...

BANANAS: FAO RECOMMENDS WIDER GENETIC DIVERSITY TO AVOID EXTINCTION.(Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)(Cavendish banana)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2003... The Cavendish variety is a dessert-type banana cultivated mostly by the big banana multinationals for international trade. But it accounts for only 10% of bananas produced and consumed globally. The FAO explains that its vulnerability results...

REPORT PUTS BLAME ON MEMBER STATES FOR INSUFFICIENT BIOLOGICAL SOIL TREATMENT.(Brief Article)
February 14, 2003... Many EU Member States have failed to introduce biological treatment of soil precisely because the removal of contaminated soil of public dumps is authorised or even encouraged. Thus concludes a report drawn up as part of a research project...

GEOGRAPHICAL TRACEABILITY: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE EU TO ADD VALUE TO ITS FARM PRODUCTS.
February 14, 2003... GeoTraceAgri is an Information Society Technologies (IST) research project that began in April 2002 and will last 30 months in all. It is funded to the tune of Euro 3.39 million by the EU's Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Development...

VETERINARY DRUGS: MARKETING AUTHORISATIONS FOR AVILAMYCIN AND DICLAZURIL.(Brief Article)
February 14, 2003... There are still serious divisions among the Member States on the use of antibiotics in animal feed, but the requests for authorisations keep coming up. Despite divisions in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, the...

FARM COUNCIL: CAP REFORM TO TAKE BACKSTAGE AT FEBRUARY 20 MEETING.
February 14, 2003... Food and feed safety: pesticides and antibiotics. Aldicarb is already widely used, particularly in growing beet, potatoes, carrots and citrus fruit. But it is being reassessed as part of an ongoing review of all pesticides with existing...

SOIL POLICY: LOCAL GOVERNMENT BACKS EU STRATEGY.
February 14, 2003... One of the key submissions to the stakeholder information and consultation meeting on EU soil policy, held in Brussels on February 10, was from the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), the European federation of 44 national...

ANIMAL FEED: 2003 INSPECTION PROGRAMME FOCUSES ON DIOXIN CONTAMINATION.
February 14, 2003... The European Commission has adopted a Recommendation addressed to the Member States on the co-ordinated inspection programme for animal nutrition in 2003, as required under Directive 95/93/EC to check compliance with restrictions on the...

FISHERIES: MEPS BACK TOUGHER MONITORING OF TUNA AND SWORDFISH TRADE; CoR BACKS CFP PLAN.(members of the European Parliament)(Committee of the Regions)(Common Fisheries Policy)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2003... The European Parliament has backed a European Commission proposal to introduce a system for statistical monitoring of the EU's trade in bluefin tuna, swordfish and bigeye tuna. The report, adopted in Strasbourg on February 12, amends the...

EU/WTO: COMMISSION CALLS GENEVA FARM TRADE PLAN BIASED.(European Union)(World Trade Organization)
February 14, 2003... Mr Fischler characterised the Harbinson paper as "a contribution to the debate" - making clear that the EU does not want any greater importance attached to it. To the Commission's eyes, the paper is too favourable to the United States and to...

EU/UNCTAD: CALL FOR UNION TO OPEN COMMODITIES MARKET TO POOR NATIONS.(European Union; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2003... The European Union should open its market further to ensure commodity producers in poor states can sell their processed or semi-processed food, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said. "Commodities, particularly...

EU/ACP: FARM AND FISH ISSUES TOP EPA TALKS.(European Union; African, Caribbean, and Pacific Nations; Economic Partnership Agreements)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2003... Agriculture and fisheries issues have risen to the top of the agenda for the talks on new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations. At the third negotiation session...

CALENDAR OF EVENTS IN SPRING 2003.(Calendar)
February 14, 2003... FEBRUARY 17-19 England, UK - European agriculture: What is the way forward? Following the launch of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) round at Doha in 2001 which sets out a timetable for agricultural liberalisation and as detailed...