Newsletter September 2007

Secretariat News September 2007

Events organised by EPHA
On Friday 14 September 2007 Caroline organised a meeting with EPHA members to discuss EPHA’s participation on two major platforms on nutrition: the EU Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, and the stakeholder consultative platform of the European Food Safety Authority.
On Monday 17 September, Liesbeth and Caroline coordinated and attended the meeting of the ad hoc working group on information to patients (for more information on the outcomes of this (...)

Consultation on European Social Realities, 2007

On 3 September 2007 FEANTSA, an EPHA member, addressed a statement to the European Commission public consultation on European Social Realities.
FEANTSA statement, September 2007The public consultation on the "social reality" of Europe aims to generate debate on social realities across Europe. The Commission wants to ’listen’, not only test policy options. The role of European policies is therefore left entirely open.
Following the communication of the European Commission FEANTSA produced a (...)

Streets for People: EU celebrates its 6th European Mobility Week

During the 6th annual European Mobility Week 2007 from 16 to 22 September, more than 133 million people across Europe will have the opportunity to benefit from initiatives promoting safe and environmentally sustainable urban mobility.
European Mobility Week aims to improve health and quality of life by promoting environmentally sustainable choices in urban mobility and transport.
European Mobility Week Activities
This European initiative creates an opportunity to implement a wide range of (...)

World facing increasing threat of arsenic poisoning

Researchers believe about 140 million people, mainly in developing countries, are being poisoned by arsenic in their drinking water.
Scientists at the Royal Geographical Society meeting in London said that arsenic exposure will lead to higher rates of cancer in the future. According to Peter Ravenscroft, a research associate at Cambridge University, “It’s a global problem, present in 70 countries, probably more.”
Potential hazard Some of the effects of arsenic consumption do (...)

European Parliament adopts an amended report on the EU alcohol strategy

On 5 September 2007 the European Parliament adopted an amended report on the EU alcohol strategy to support Member States in reducing alcohol-related harm.
The report raises several issues including: labelling and warnings, binge-drinking, alcopops and reducing accidents caused by drinking and driving. The report was adopted by a large majority. To read the full dossier look at EPHA’s website.
EPHA welcomes that the rapporteur, Alessandro Foglietta, highlighted some of the important (...)

Get Active!: a TV campaign to promote physical activity

The European Commission DG SANCO, in partnership with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), have launched a new TV advertising campaign to encourage physical activity, which will be broadcasted in Europe during the Champions League matches, in September 2007.
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_deter... The Commission’s campaign, which slogan is “Go on, get out of your armchair”, aims to encourage European citizens to make physical activity part of their daily lives. The (...)

New dialogue for stakeholders and scientific comittees

Procedure for dialogue with Stakeholders unveiled for DG SANCOs advisory scientific committees.

**Updated** Food additives such as ’Azo dyes’ require a warning label.

This article has been updated in May 2008 following the vote in the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee of the food additives proposal.
In May 2008, the ENVI Committee in the European Parliament, voted in the second reading of the food additives proposal a requirement for an azo dye warning label following the publication of the Southampton Study. The Southampton Study linked six artificial food colours and the preservative sodium benzoate to hyperactivity in (...)

Which? warns about cartoons labelled in unhealthy food

Which?, the largest consumer body in the UK, has published the Cartoon Heroes and Villains report to reveal how these characters are used to push children towards foods high in fat, sugar or salt.
The report was launched on 9 August 2007 and agrees with the results of a survey conducted by Which? on 21 August 2007, showing that 75% of parents feel that their efforts to make their children eat healthier are undermined by this kind of labelling.
http://www.which.co.uk/files/applic... Which? (...)

EU Eurobarometer opinion survey highlights health checks

A Eurobarometer opinion survey across the EU has found wide differences in health status as well as the use of health checkups across the EU.

Healthy and active lifestyle workshop - Whose responsibility?- 16 October 2007

A Brussels-based media group organises a stakeholder lunchtime workshop entitled Healthy and active lifestyle - Whose responsibility? on 16 October 2007, in Brussels (Belgium).
Everybody agrees that eating habits, physical activity, smoking, and drinking affect our health. On the other side, opinions on who is responsible of our eating behaviour, how much we exercise, drink, or smoke seem to diverge.
The aim of the workshop is to exchange views on the respective roles and responsibilities (...)

EMCDDA Scientific Committee: call for expression of interest

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is seeking scientists interested to be part of the Centre’s Scientific Committee.
The EMCDDA Scientific Committee
The Scientific Committee was established in 1993 together with the institutionalisation of the EMCDDA.
The main role of the Scientific Committee is:
to provide assistance to the Director of the EMCDDA on the work programmes of the centre.
to issue scientific opinions (which will be published)
to (...)

FEANTSA conference and information day on homelessness and employment

The European Federation of National Organisations working with People who are Homeless (FEANTSA) is organising a European conference and an information day on 18 and 19 October in Zaragoza, Spain.
The conference is intended to present the main findings of the European Report on homelessness and employment. But it also stands as an opportunity to meet experts from across Europe, have access to the latest publications on this topic, and visit various employment projects for people who are (...)

WHO pocket guidelines to prevent cardiovascular diseases

http://www.who.int/entity/cardiovas... The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published Pocket Guidelines for Assessment and Management of Cardiovascular Risk, a new book of pocket-charts to help health workers identify people at risk of heart attacks and strokes, on 12 September 2007, in Geneva.
The guidelines, which can be carried and used by any health care worker, aim to save lives by prescribing the most appropriate treatment and are available in six languages.
Concretely, the book (...)

Healthy Workplace Initiative seminars in Eastern Europe: how to promote health and safety in Small firms

A series of seminars have been anounced by the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work targeting small firms in the new Member States

**Updated** First outbreak of chikungunya confirmed in Europe

Italian Health authorities have reported a total of 101 confirmed cases result of the outbreak of chikungunya fever, propagated by mosquito bites in the North-East of Italy on Summer 2007. Since 4 July 2007, over 250 cases have been reported, of which 133 are suspected cases waiting for laboratory confirmation.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), has led a team of public health experts who visited the (...)

Happiness makes you healthier

A recent study found that happy people may have a lower risk of disease.
Recently, researchers concluded that people with positive mental attitudes display different responses to stress. The findings correlated with similar studies saying that the same people are at a less likely to suffer from heart disease, diabetes and depression.
Andrew Steptoe, a professor of psychology at University College London who led the research, said, “The evidence suggests that happier people have a (...)

Teen drinking leads to risk of alcoholism and social exclusion

A recent study reports that teen binge drinkers are more likely to use drugs, to become alcoholics and to be convicted of a criminal offense.
The Institute of Child Health released a study of 11,000 children who were born in 1970 and monitored at the age of 16 and 30. At the age of 30, participants were asked to describe their levels of heavy drinking based specific criteria:
Weekly consumption
Illicit drug use
Mental health problems
Educational achievement and employment
Personal history (...)

Joining forces to combat Tuberculosis in Europe

Despite being a preventable and curable disease, in 2005, 65,700 people died from Tuberculosis in the European Region. Moreover, levels of multiple drug-resistant TB in Europe are among the worst in the world and there is a growing problem of HIV/TB co-infection.

**Updated** Joint statement on the way forward for health information launched!

**This article has been updated with the latest developments concerning the Statement on Information to Patients**
During the course of the summer, a group of various health NGOs jointly collaborated to write a statement outlining the future steps to be taken by policy-makers. The overarching aim was to maintain public health concerns at the heart of the political initiatives on information to patients.
The statement was endorsed by 21 organisations. It was sent to the Steering Committee (...)

On-line pharmacies raise safety fears

Recent research finds that a majority of prescription drug sites put people’s health at risk by operating without proper credentials.
On 20 August, MarkMonitor published the results of an investigation on the counterfeit/grey market for popular prescription drugs.
The investigation shows that:
Out of the 3,160 surveyed on-line pharmacies, only four had gone through an accreditation scheme
More than half did not secure customer data
Extremely low prices suggested that some of the (...)