The Netherlands: Pesticide Contamination : Dozens more egg producers shut down as pesticide scandal spreads

The Dutch food and product safety board has stopped ‘dozens’ more poultry farms from sending their eggs to market because they may be contaminated with the pesticide fipronil. Tests for traces of the pesticide, used to control lice in poultry, are now being carried out on eggs, hens and chicken manure at several dozen farms, the NVWA said in a statement.

On Monday, the NVWA shut down seven poultry farms after fipronil was found in samples of eggs.

The chemical is primarily used as an insecticide, particularly to kill fleas, and is classed as a ‘moderately hazardous pesticide’ by the World Health Organisation.

In the Netherlands it is banned in the poultry sector. The NVWA, which took the action after a tip-off from the Belgian authorities, said in a statement there is no danger to human health. According to regional paper de Stentor, the contamination may have come from a pest control company in Gelderland which used the pesticide to deal with chicken lice.

The NVWA says it has not so far found concentrations of the chemical which would prove a direct danger to human health. However, continued consumption of eggs containing fipronil ‘could have damaging effect.

The anti-lice pesticide at the centre of an egg safety scandal in the Netherlands may have been used on Dutch farms as early as June 2016, the Volkskrant said on Wednesday.

The company at the centre of the scandal, Barneveld-based Chickfriend, was treating poultry for lice last year and there is no reason to believe that the product did not contain fipronil at that time, the paper said.

The Dutch food and product safety board NVWA told the paper that eggs containing the banned pesticide fipronil could have been sold in Dutch shops since then, but said: ‘we have no way of checking because the eggs have been eaten’.

Chickfriend is now thought to have bought the pesticide from a Belgian supplier and investigators are now trying to find out if the Dutch firm was aware the product, said to be based on natural oils such as eucalyptus, contained fipronil. The pesticide is classed as ‘moderately hazardous pesticide’ by the World Health Organisation.

Note EU-Digest:  Reviewing Chemical Product Lists of chemical products sold in the EU reveals Fipronil is among one of the many poisonous (to humans) products sold by the US based company Dow Chemicals in the EU. The EU authorities and local European governments need to do a better job at overcoming the intense lobby efforts, of mainly US based companies, to sell harmful products like Fipronil in the EU.

Read more: Dozens more egg producers shut down as pesticide scandal spreads - DutchNews.nl

Nuclear Energy: EU’s ageing nuclear reactors pose significant safety risks – Dagmar Dehmer

It isn’t just far-off Ukraine that has its nuclear power concerns. The EU’s 128 nuclear power plants have an average age of 30.6 years and provide food for thought that is much closer to home than either Chernobyl or Fukushima. EurActiv’s partner Tagesspiegel reports.

The most dangerous nuclear power plants are to be found dotted across the continent, from the United Kingdom and France in the west, to Bulgaria and Ukraine in the east. The World Nuclear Industry Status Report confirmed that the advanced age of the European Union’s 128 atomic facilities is of great concern.

In Ukraine, its ageing nuclear reactors pose a substantial risk given the country’s economic uncertainty that has been caused by the financial crisis and civil war, meaning investment in its 15 power plants has not been forthcoming.

The most worrying incident came at the beginning of 2015, when the Zaporizhia facility in the south of the country, which is currently the largest plant in all of Europe, was forced to shut down its reactors due to fluctuations on the power grid. Austrian environmental organisation Global 2000 claimed that the near-disaster was a result of sabotage, with separatists from the Russian-annexed Crimea peninsula accused of blowing up an electricity pylon.

Age is also a significant concern for France’s oldest nuclear plant at Fessenheim, located on the German border. It has had its fair share of problems: in 2009, plant debris clogged its cooling ducts, in 2012, there was a small gas explosion and in 2015, one of its reactors was affected by a burst pipe. Most significantly, in 2014, the system had to be shut down due to issues with its crucial cooling rods. The incident was only reported a few days after it had occurred.

At another site near the German border, further north in Cattenom, the reactors are younger but still have an unenviable safety record. Fessenheim’s Alsatian cousin has reported 750 incidents reported so far. In 2012, authorities found that two of its reactors were missing components that would prevent coolant leaking. France has 59 nuclear power plants in total and they provide 75% of the country’s energy needs, making it the most atomic-reliant nation on earth.

Read more: EU’s ageing nuclear reactors pose significant safety risks – EurActiv.com

Oil Exploration: Oil companies fracking into drinking water sources, new research shows - by Neela Banerjee

Energy companies are fracking for oil and gas at far shallower depths than widely believed, sometimes through underground sources of drinking water, according to research released Tuesday by Stanford University scientists.

Though researchers cautioned their study of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, employed at two Wyoming geological formations showed no direct evidence of water-supply contamination, their work is certain to roil the public health debate over the risks of the controversial oil and gas production process.

Fracking involves high-pressure injection of millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals to crack geological formations and tap previously unreachable oil and gas reserves. Fracking fluids contain a host of chemicals, including known carcinogens and neurotoxins.

Oil companies fracking into drinking water sources, new research shows - LA Times