Info
03 February 2021
by eub2 last modified 03 February 2021
The European Commission presented on 3 February Europe s Beating Cancer Plan, a new EU approach to cancer prevention, treatment and care.
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Why is the Commission presenting Europe s Beating Cancer Plan now?
In 2020, 2.7 million people were diagnosed with cancer and another
1.3 million people lost their lives to it in the European Union. In
addition to causing heavy physical and emotional distress for patients
and those around them, it places a heavy burden on our health systems,
our economy, and on our society. The overall economic impact of cancer
in Europe is estimated to exceed €100 billion annually.
A new framework will soon protect traditional specialties and the finest local agricultural products of the European Union.
The European Commission’s latest public consultation asked businesses, institutions and citizens for help in redefining the scope and the role of the geographical indications (GI), including products with a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).
The effects of the consultation will have the biggest impacts on producers and farmers, including olive growers.
on January 28, 2021
Today, the European Commission and national consumer authorities released the results of a screening of websites (“sweep”), an exercise carried out each year to identify breaches of EU consumer law in online markets. This year, for the first time ever, the sweep focused on ‘greenwashing’, the practice by which companies claim they are doing more for the environment than they actually are. The “sweep” analysed green online claims from various business sectors such as garments, cosmetics and household equipment. National consumer protection authorities had reason to believe that in 42% of cases the claims were exaggerated, false or deceptive and could potentially qualify as unfair commercial practices under EU rules. ‘Greenwashing’ has increased as consumers increasingly seek to buy environmentally sound products.
How is Slow Food Keeping GMOs Out of Europe? 28 January 2021 Alice Poiron
Slow Food has been actively involved in the fight against GMOs for decades, and is making its voice heard among decision makers, particularly in Italy, the United Kingdom, and Brussels, as new gene editing techniques are being pushed by industry lobbyists, with the so-called aim to produce food more sustainably.
In Europe, the debate on “transgenic” GMOs – whereby foreign genes are introduced into food or animals to give the organism new properties or traits that it does not naturally have, has quieted down in the last two decades as the broad majority of EU countries have decided to ban the production of GMOs on their land. However, it is the deregulation of new gene editing techniques (referred to by the industry as “New Breeding Techniques”), including CRISPR-Cas9, that is worrying civil society organizations including Slow Food.
Met dank overgenomen van Europese Commissie (EC), gepubliceerd op donderdag 28 januari 2021.
Vandaag hebben de Europese Commissie en de nationale consumentenautoriteiten de resultaten bekendgemaakt van een screening van websites. Bij deze jaarlijkse bezemactie worden overtredingen van het EU-consumentenrecht op onlinemarkten geïdentificeerd. Dit jaar was de bezemactie met name gericht op groenwassen, de praktijk waarbij bedrijven beweren meer voor het milieu te doen dan in werkelijkheid het geval is. Bij de bezemactie zijn groene onlineclaims geanalyseerd voor producten uit verschillende bedrijfssectoren, zoals kleding, cosmetica en huishoudelijke apparatuur. De nationale autoriteiten voor consumentenbescherming hebben aanwijzingen dat 42 % van de claims overdreven, onjuist of bedrieglijk was en volgens de EU-regels mogelijk een oneerlijke handelspraktijk vormde. Groenwassen wint terrein, nu consumenten steeds vaker naar milieuvriendelijke producten op zoek zijn.