Sir, Regarding ‘Parliament under pressure for shunning free software’: While we sympathise with the FFII petition to the European Parliament on streaming plenary sessions, we are equally concerned about broad categorical mandates with regard to software procurement. While the notion of “non-discrimination” is worthy, the idea of mandates is a slippery slope. If I only [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Parliament backs calls for EU anti-discrimination law’: Millions of young people in Europe face discrimination every day in access to goods and services, such as healthcare, education, insurance and banking products, and access to participation in policymaking. I support the European Parliament’s strong call for comprehensive legislation to combat discrimination covering a range [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Green Light from the Emerald Isle? Questions and Answers about Ireland’: In their paperPdf external , Hierlemann and Heydecker underline the important duty of Irish politicians to ensure that their citizens approve the Lisbon Treaty. So politicians should tell us ho to vote. How interesting. What happened to democracy? I thought the electorate [...]

Monsieur, Concernant ‘La Commission hésite à autoriser plus de cultures GM’: Pour quelles raisons l’Europe semble-t-elle faire le jeu de l’OMC dans le dossier des OGM? Pourquoi veut-elle imposer des législations favorables aux cultures OGM alors que la balance bénéfices/risques n’est même pas clairement établie et qu’il semble impossible de maîtriser les croisements avec les [...]

Sir, Regarding Reinhard Lauer of the BBFU’s letter dated 8 April (‘Mercury use in dental amalgam’): The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) shares the concerns of Bundesverband der Beratungsstellen fuer Umweltgifte about the use of dental amalgams containing mercury. However, we were surprised to learn of their doubts regarding the scientific basis of our work. [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Interview: Russia not to blame for Caucasus war threat’: Ambassador Chizov obviously lives on a different plane from those of us who choose to base our judgements on facts and not propaganda. When the NATO secretary general offers to eat his tie in reaction to outrageous Russian claims (“NATO chief offers to eat [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Green Light from the Emerald Isle? Questions and Answers about Ireland’: In their paperPdf external , Hierlemann and Heydecker underline the important duty of Irish politicians to ensure that their citizens approve the Lisbon Treaty. So politicians should tell us ho to vote. How interesting. What happened to democracy? I thought the electorate [...]

Zum Artikel ‘Europaabgeordnete unterstützen Verbot von Farbstoffen in Lebensmitteln’: In einer Zeit, in der sehr gut bekannt ist, dass jeder dritte Allergiker ist und die Zahl der Umwelterkrankten rapide steigt (rund 15% in Industrienationen), wäre es in keinster Form mehr nachvollziehbar, warum nicht EU-weit von chemischen Zusatzstoffen Abstand genommen wird. Es ist ganz simpel auf [...]

Zum Artikel ‘MdEP Davies über Kohle: ‘Große Gewinne’ aus CO2-Speicherung nach 2020′: In Zusammenhang mit dem Werbetrick der Energiekonzerne durch das Verstecken von Kohlendioxid und eine Effizienzsteigerung der Kraftwerke das Klima retten zu wollen, ist mir außerordentlich wichtig, Sie auf Sachverhalte aufmerksam zu machen, die leider nicht die notwendige Beachtung finden, wenn über Maßnahmen zur [...]

Sir, European Union officials must be getting used to the familiar refrain they hear every time an industry sector is asked to cut carbon emissions. But when the latest industry to claim it will be “destroyed” by a flagship European climate policy also happens to be one of the richest and most influential, its arguments [...]