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GreenFacts Newsletter - Spring 2006

Table of Contents

More than a million visitors over the past 12 months

GreenFacts is proud to announce that its website has reached the milestone of 1 million visitors per year in February 2006. The website-statistics show that readership of GreenFacts.org increased dramatically during 2005. Readers seem to use GreenFacts.org mainly for professional purposes, as the daily number of visits is twice as high during weekdays compared to weekends.


New and upcoming Digests at GreenFacts.org

Digest for the 20th Anniversary of Chernobyl

GreenFacts' most recent on-line Digest provides information on the effects of the Chernobyl accident. The Digest was published this m20-Déc-2007anniversary of the accident. How has the most serious accident in nuclear history affected the region and how has the region coped with it?

Working more closely with UN agencies

GreenFacts is increasingly collaborating closely with key international institutions that publish scientific documents:

  • Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO): On the basis of FAO reports and with the help of FAO experts, GreenFacts has released Digests on Genetically Modified Crops (GMOs) and on Fisheries. A summary of the recent Global Forest Resources Assessment is in progress and will be partly funded by FAO.
  • World Health Organization (WHO): With financial support from the International Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) Project of the WHO, GreenFacts has prepared a Digest on Static Fields. It looks into potential health consequences of static electric and magnetic fields generated by equipments such as MRI scanners. Alcohol is another recent Digest that GreenFacts prepared with the help of WHO experts. Upcoming Digests based on WHO source documents will tackle topics such as Diet and Nutrition and PCBs.

Summarising EU Assessments

New Digests which have been based on reports by EU bodies include:

  • A Digest on Phthalates based on several assessments by European Chemicals Bureau examines additives that are used to make plastics and other materials soft and flexible. Due to their widespread use, phthalates are a source of public concern.

  • A Digest on Respiratory Diseases in Children observes the continuing increase of asthma and other allergies, and looks at which genetic and environmental factors may affect the likelihood of children to develop such a disease.

  • The latest European Environment Outlook report published by the European Environment Agency will be summarized by GreenFacts by mid-2006.

Biodiversity Digest to be launched at Green Week

GreenFacts will be present at Green Week 2006, which will take place 30 May – 2 June and is organised by the European Commission's Directorate General for Environment. This year's event will focus on the continuing loss of biodiversity – the range of genes, species and ecosystems that form life on Earth – and on possible ways to invert this trend. In time for the occasion, GreenFacts will publish a summary of the Biodiversity Synthesis report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. This Digest, which will be produced in collaboration with IUCN and Countdown 2010, will complement GreenFacts' Digest on Ecosystem Change.


GreenFacts welcomes new staff member

Ms Sandra Nebe has joined the GreenFacts team as Communication Officer. Contributing her experience in communication and her proficiency in several languages, she will strive to make the resources provided by GreenFacts even more accessible to journalists and all interested parties. Sandra will thus be your media contact person, responding to any queries related to press releases, the newsletter, or the GreenFacts press room.

New vacancy at GreenFacts

GreenFacts is looking for a Dutch-speaking Partnership Development Officer to support the partnerships and fundraising team. His or her main duties will be to develop partnerships among Benelux governments and institutions. Mainly based at GreenFacts' offices near the Brussels North Station, the job will imply occasional travel. Please refer to our website for a detailed job description. Applications can be sent to partnershipapplication@greenfacts.org.

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