European Partnership for Action against Cancer The “European Partnership for Action against Cancer” is focused on “bringing together all relevant organisations, sharing information” and best practices to fight to fight cancer, with a “main goal: a 15% reduction in new cases in the EU by 2020”. The European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, together with Commissioner for Health, Androulla Vassiliou, opened in September 27 a conference in Brussels, attended by 300 people, from relevant organisations against cancer, politicians, experts, people who had survived cancer, researchers and member States National Health care authorities. Cancer is the second cause of death in the EU and an effort must be made to “join forces to find new solution, in prevention, health care treatments and patient and relatives assistance. Initiatives in fighting cancer first started in 1985: so far three different programmes have been adopted and funded so for prevention, research and cure (1987-1989, 1990-1994 e 1996-2002). A new strategy kicked-off in 2003 leading to a Commission Document in June 2009, and the creation of the Partnership. After the opening works of the conference, in autumn some meeting are scheduled to decide community action.Healthy lifestyle and balanced diet for European childrenAlongside its “School Fruit Scheme” and “School Milk Scheme” campaign the EU will run a new initiative to ” to boast a healthier lifestyle and more balanced diet for children in Europe”. The slogan “Eat it, drink it, move it” is part of the road show that will travel through seven countries (Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland), involving children in activities and educational games. The European Commission also launched an interactive web site (www.ec.europa.eu/tasty-bunch, for now only in English), with competitions and other events, “all focused on a key goal: improve eating habits for the better” .Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel, claims: “Looking at the number of overweight children (approximately 22 million in the EU, 5 million of which obese) it is clear we must act now”. EU Health Commissioner, Androulla Vassiliou, added: “The Healthy Eating Campaign complements our efforts to curb childhood obesity. It is of outmost importance that all EU policies contribute in promoting healthier environments for all citizens”. Each road show will visit two schools a day, for an overall amount of 18 thousand children in 180 schools. In the next two month, furthermore, the EU ‘s “Tasty Bunch” website will organize an interactive treasure hunt, for schoolchildren aged 8 to15 that can win many sports items. Controlled MP3 player to prevent hearing lossIn the EU between 50 to 100 people, every day listen to music on portable music players ( such as MP3 players). The EU Scenihr Committee (Scientific Committee for emerging and recently identified health risks) warned that “a prolonged exposure to loud playback on portable music players could permanently damage hearing”. 5-10% of listeners risk permanent hearing loss- “People who normally listen to loud music for more than an hour each day”. The commission, on September 28, set a mandate to Cenelec (European Committee for Electronical Standardization) requiring new technical safety standards to be drawn up. According to Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, “consumers will benefit from new default setting on personal music players ser at safe exposure levels, as well as clear warning on the adverse effects of excessive exposure to high sounds by predefined safe sound levels installed on portable music players and will have a well defined warnings on risks of overriding the safety limits”. Mrs. Kuneva explained: “It is easy to push up the sound levels on your MP3 player to damaging loud levels, especially on busy streets or public transport. And the evidence is that particularly young people – who are listening to music at high volumes for various hours each week, do not realize they can be putting their hearing at risk. These standards make small technical changes to players for a safer use”. No deadline has been however set for the standards that will have to undergo normal EU legislative procedure.
