On thin ice

if iceland made a dramatic re-entry into the International Whaling Commission (iwc), the sequel to the event promises to be equally startling. For, after having voted in favour of Iceland despite its plans to resume commercial hunting of whales, Sweden has done a volte-face terming the move an "unfortunate mistake".

Bytes

Good for a change A common pollutant strongly impacts the behaviour of arsenic and possibly other toxic metals in some lakes, shows a research conducted by us-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nitrate pollution reacts with naturally occurring iron to create iron oxides that in turn adsorb arsenic. The result is a suppression of seasonal arsenic release into the water. More than a best friend

N-plants face closure

taking a cue from Sweden and Germany, Belgium is going ahead with its plan to phase out the country's nuclear reactors by 2025. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt recently said that his cabinet would ask parliament to pass a controversial bill to this effect. "We are going to proceed with the closure of nuclear plants between 2015 and 2025," he said and added, "It is a balanced and realistic decision."

Safe disposal

with a ban on landfilling of combustible wastes, the Swedish municipalities are giving an impetus to biological processing of household waste. As a result, the capacity of such processing is being increased and the incineration capacity is also rising rapidly. Proposed in 1997, the new combustible waste landfilling ban covers all household waste, according to Gunnar Fredriksson of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (epa).

ULSD dearer

a recent spurt has been witnessed in the demand for ultra low sulphur diesel (ulsd), with several European countries switching over to the green fuel (containing 50 parts per million of sulphur). The resultant shortage has pushed up ulsd prices on the Rotterdam (Netherlands) barge market by us $20 a tonne.

Producer's onus paramount

What is extended producers responsibility ( epr ) concept? Interviewee:  Thomas Lindhqvist

Tick with a bite

researchers in Sweden have linked the increase in the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis in Stockholm County to the global warming. The viral pathogen lives inside an insect, Ixodes ricinus and is transmitted to human beings when the insect bites them. The disease is characterised by symptoms such as high body temperature followed by tremors and dizziness due to inflammation of the brain.

No kidding

babies playing with cats are vulnerable to kitty-induced allergies and asthma later on, researchers in Sweden report. Their findings add to a body of conflicting evidence on whether being raised with a cat sensitises young children to the animals. While the majority of research in this area has found early exposure to cats to be an allergy risk, some recent studies have suggested the other way round, that exposure helps infants develop a tolerance to cat allergens, thereby protecting them from allergies and asthma.

A great leap forward

People asked for it and the automobile industry gave it to them, but does the government even know about it. Six months after the automobile industry announced that it was willing to take responsibility for the on-road emissions from their vehicles, emissions warranty finally came into effect from July 1, 2001.

Driving out bad tyres

Swedish communities, the EU rubber industry association and local authorities in the Gteborg region of the country have come together to ask for greater use of 'winter' car tyres by the public in order to reduce the release of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are carcinogenic, into the environment. Aromatic oils make up for about 20 per cent of a tyre and help improve the tyre's grip among other things. But they are lost into the environment when the tyres wear down.