Horizons: Ireland has consistently prioritised the chemical industry's concerns above consumer protection according to Friends of the Earth (FOE), which is campaigning for effective EU legislation to protect human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals.
FOE was responding to a piece in Monday's Irish Times on the powerful lobbying of the chemicals industry which has resulted in the watering down of the EU proposed chemicals legislation known as Reach (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation of Chemicals). Last year, the number of chemicals that would have to undergo rigourous testing was cut from 30,000 to about 12,000. Paul Corbett of FOE told Horizons: "The chemical industry has done a huge amount of scare-mongering about job losses and the effect on the economy if it had to carry out extensive testing. But the industry's cost-related concerns are in stark contrast to the likely workplace benefits of good legislation including 2,200 to 4,300 fewer cancer cases annually, according to former EU environment commissioner, Margot Wallstrom." The proposed Reach legislation goes for a second reading in the European Parliament later this year. Lobbyists of all types will be working to influence MEPs before then. See also www.foe.ie and www.chemicalreaction.org.uk
Promoting pastiche
Architectural historian and professor of History of Architecture at the University of Cambridge, England, Prof David Watkins will be in Dublin next week to give a lecture to the Irish Georgian Society entitled Pastiche, Imitation, Revival. He will ask why the revival or development by a current architect of a traditional style should be condemned as "pastiche" yet accepted by the same critics in the work of Renaissance architects such as Brunelleschi, Alberti or Bramante. "Alberti's Maria Novella in Florence and Palladio's Basilica in Vicenza would today be disallowed as facadism and pastiche by bodies such as English Heritage," writes Watkins in his book, Morality and Architecture Revisited (2001). Prof Watkins's lecture takes place in the Meeting Room of the Royal Irish Academy, Dawson Street, Dublin 2, on Thur, Jan 26 at 7.30pm. Admission €10. Booking from info@igs.ie or fax 01-6620290.
Impact on earth
A talk, entitled Our Planet, Our Future, will look at ways that physics and engineering can help us understand how human life has impacted on our planet. It will be given by scientists Dr Karen Bultitude from the University of the West of England and Laura Grant from Liverpool University, England. The talk, aimed particularly at students, will be held in the RDS Concert Hall on Fri, Jan 27 from 2pm to 4pm. Booking on tel. 01-2407255 or e-mail Johanna.suhr@rds.ie
Garden invaders
The Irish Wildlife Trust is holding a public meeting on Invasive Species in An Taisce offices, Tailor's Hall, Back Lane, Dublin 8, on Mon, Jan 23 at 7.30pm. Therese Higgins of Groundwork will explain the threat to our native species from invasive species such as Rhododendrons. Booking via IWT at tel. 01-8602839 or e-mail iwt@eircom.net