16/04/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The future Medicrime Council of Europe Convention “is not expected to eliminate counterfeit medicines or to make counterfeiters extinct, but it criminalises counterfeiting,” and reflects the governments and parliaments’ willingness to “reaffirm their commitment to co-operating in the detection of counterfeit medical products and combat this phenomenon," Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE) said yesterday, at the opening of a conference on this issue.
29/03/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“The next time someone cries wolf over a pandemic, the overwhelming majority will not take it seriously,” participants were told today at a hearing on the handling of the H1N1 pandemic, organised in Paris by PACE’s Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee. “A pandemic cannot be whatever the WHO declares it is. If it turns out that former PACE member Wolfgang Wodarg was right when he said the pandemic was decided to help the pharmaceutical industry make bigger profits, this might well turn out to be one of the biggest health scandals,” said Paul Flynn (United Kingdom, SOC), PACE rapporteur on this issue.
22/03/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 22.03.2010 – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is to hold a second public hearing on the subject “The handling of the H1N1 pandemic: more transparency needed” in Paris on Monday 29th March, followed by a press conference.Participants at the hearing, organised...
19/02/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Committee on the Environment yesterday adopted the report by Rafael Huseynov (Azerbaijan, ALDE) describing the harm caused by noise and light pollution to man and other living species. Such pollution can have serious repercussions, such as disturbing ecosystems and provoking diseases in humans. The rapporteur believes that the fight against such pollution is a major environmental and public health challenge. He calls for an integrated approach to the problem and for efforts to raise awareness of the whole of society.
26/01/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"Are decisions on pandemics taken on the best scientific evidence only?" was the question asked at a January public hearing of PACE's Committee on Social, Health and Family Affairs which looked into the handling of the H1N1 pandemic. The World Health Organisation's flu chief defended his...
21/01/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 21.01.2010 – A public parliamentary hearing titled “The handling of the H1N1 pandemic: more transparency needed?” is to be held on the fringe of the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg from 8.15-10 a.m. on Tuesday 26 January...
18/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Reacting to the speech given by US President Barack Obama today in Copenhagen, PACE’s rapporteur on climate change, former British Deputy Prime Minister and Kyoto negotiator John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), said it was wonderful to hear an American President calling for action on climate change, but said: “When he gets in the room with the other leaders he’s going to have to offer a little bit more”.
16/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE rapporteur on climate change, former British Deputy Prime Minister and EU Kyoto negotiator John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), today issued a stern warning to the US that they must do much more to help secure a deal at Copenhagen. Addressing a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the Danish Parliament, Mr Prescott publicly criticised the US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern for saying emissions were “just maths”.
15/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), the Assembly’s rapporteur on climate change, is posting a daily video diary from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which opened this week. Mr Prescott, who negotiated the 1997 Kyoto Accord as Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister, is part of a 13-strong PACE delegation at these key global talks.
11/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"There is evidence that when family-friendly policies are pursued consistently over a long period, they do have a positive effect on individual decisions to have children and tackle the demographic problems of Europe," Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) stressed at a meeting of PACE Social Affairs Committee in Paris on 11 December.
11/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Children witnessing violence against their mother are far too often neglected as victims of psychological trauma, as possible future victims and as links in a chain of violence, when they could help identify potentially violent situations and avoid new violence in the future. Adopting a report by Carina Ohlsson (Sweden, SOC) in Paris on 11 December, PACE Social Affairs Committee agreed on a list of measures to be taken by national parliaments and governments.
25/11/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE rapporteur on climate change, John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), has welcomed US President Barack Obama’s decision to attend the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen. At a PACE committee meeting on Friday, and during a later House of Commons debate, Mr Prescott called on the President – as well as the leaders of China and India – to attend the event. “Hopefully China and India will now follow Obama’s lead,” Mr Prescott said today.