01/06/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"I welcome yesterday's announcement by the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that mobile phone use should be classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans," today declared Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC), author of the report on the potential dangers of electromagnetic fields and their effect on the environment, which resulted in a Resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) last Friday.
24/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“National parliaments should play a key role when it comes to strengthening protection of children and prevention of all forms of violence against them,” Ivan Popescu (Ukraine, SOC), Vice-President of the PACE, said today at the opening of a conference in Kyiv on combating violence against children. He added that it was up to the parliaments to go ahead with reinforcing national legislation and introducing the highest standards of protection.
20/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“In times of crisis, it is essential to give a boost to the regional economy and to develop the often underexploited local economic potential”, according to participants in Lamezia Terme at today’s hearing on input for local development, organised by the PACE Committee on Economic Affairs and Development.
19/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE Vice-President Ivan Popescu (Ukraine, SOC) will give a speech on 24 May in Kyiv at the opening of the Conference on combating violence against children to be held in the context of the Ukrainian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. The aim of the conference is to gather information on good practices in implementing integrated national strategies to safeguard children’s rights.
18/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE Committee on Economic Affairs and Development will hold a hearing on 20 May in Lamezia Terme (Italy) on “Input for local development: an innovative approach for crisis-stricken regions” in connection with the preparation of a report on the subject by Giuseppe Galati (Italy, EPP/CD).
17/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Governments must create incentives for “greener” industry, help companies to meet environmental standards and give them scientific and technological support to become more ecologically-friendly, has said Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), Chair of PACE’s Sub-committee on Local and Regional Democracy, hosting a panel on “the role of government in strengthening green industry” at the Nevsky International Ecological Congress in Saint Petersburg today.
16/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Do we have the right to decide whether to start, continue or end medical treatment, and what might be the uses, benefits and limitations of living wills, with a view to better protection of health and human rights at all stages of life? These questions will be the central themes of a hearing in Paris on 19 May organised by the Social Affairs Committee of PACE, at which parliamentarians and experts from France, Switzerland, Spain and Ukraine will review the situation in Council of Europe member states.
06/04/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
On the occasion of World Health Day (7 April 2011), whose theme this year is action to combat antimicrobial resistance, Liliane Maury Pasquier (Switzerland, SOC), the Chair of the PACE's Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, has today called on WHO to “continue its action to counter antimicrobial resistance while being as thorough and transparent as possible in its approach to the selection of experts so as to ensure that future decisions by national governments are based on advice entirely devoid of any conflict of interest”...
23/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
With a view to the preparation of a report on the health hazards of heavy metals by Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC), the Social Affairs Committee held an exchange of views on the dangers of using mercury in dental treatments. Mr Huss pointed out that a growing number of illnesses, in particular chronic diseases, are thought to be caused by heavy metals and other chemical substances that are omnipresent in our living environment.
23/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Participants at a hearing in Paris today organised by the Social Affairs Committee looked at the steps Europe could take to help children in the aftermath of natural disasters and crisis situations, with the focus on Haiti. "Children are the most vulnerable at every level in crisis situations", said Françoise Hostalier (France, EPP/CD), the rapporteur on the subject.
22/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"The issue of water encompasses complex realities affecting all the world's regions and populations, especially the most vulnerable, as water is very much the focus of sharp tensions, threatening regional stability and security worldwide". So said Bernard Marquet, member of the PACE Environment Committee and author of the report "Water – a source of conflict", speaking at the Conference on conventions on international water, organised in Monaco by the Monegasque National Council and the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.
22/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
One quarter of European schoolchildren are overweight or obese, the levels of excess weight and obesity being greater in southern Europe than in northern European counterparts, Michael Hancock (United Kingdom, ALDE) underlines in his report on safeguarding children and young people from obesity and type 2 diabetes. The islands of Malta, Sicily, Gibraltar and Crete are particularly concerned, as well as the countries of Spain, Portugal and Italy, with levels exceeding 30 per cent among children aged 7 to 11.