Health and environment

Consumers in the EU still lack sufficient protection, which is why more needs to be done to strengthen their rights. That is the view of Spanish Social-Democrat María Irigoyen Pérez, who has written a report on the rights of vulnerable consumers. In it she suggest solutions for tackling common problems in sectors such as transport, finance and the internet. The report was adopted by Parliament on 22 May 2012

Distilbène, Mediator, Isomeride: they are all drugs once sold legally in Europe but now believed to have provoked serious side effects including hundreds of deaths. An urgent review of medicine monitoring systems in the EU is essential according to MEP Linda McAvan, who wrote two reports on it. On May 8, the public health committee approved amendments to the pharmacovigilance regulation to improve the detection of potentially unsafe medicines and speed up action to take them off the market.

Women are far more likely than men to die in natural disasters, so they can also be expected to suffer more from the effects of climate change. A report calling for a greater role for women in tackling climate change will be debated and voted on by MEPs on 20 April. The text by French Green MEP Nicole Kiil-Nielsen argues that by including gender issues the fight against climate change could be made stronger, fairer and more effective. We asked Ms Kiil-Nielsen to tell us more about it.

EU policies have taken on a distinct green hue of late as reducing our impact on the environment becomes more and more important. In recent months the European Parliament has discussed making everything from Common Agricultural Policy to aviation emissions greener. But what do politicians mean by green and what is Parliament's green agenda? We put the question to a number of parliamentary committee chairs.

Making the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) more sustainable will be vital for environmental as well as economic reasons, professor Alan Matthews told the EP's agricultural committee. The Commission proposes to reform the CAP in order to introduce more sustainable practices by giving farmers financial incentives to change the way they operate. Professor Matthews, of Trinity College in Dublin, said in a report he presented to the committee on 19 March that doing so was urgently needed.

A drop of blood suffices for the diagnosis, but many people are still unaware they have diabetes. It is the leading cause of heart attacks and other serious illnesses and affects 32 million Europeans between the ages of 20-79. This number is expected to grow due to an ageing European population. To improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment, the EP is calling for an EU-wide diabetes strategy.

Member states such as Poland have become concerned that if the Commission's roadmap for moving to a low carbon economy becomes official policy, it will lead to factories relocating outside the EU. On 15 March a report broadly supporting it was approved in Plenary. We spoke to British Liberal Democrat Chris Davies who is guiding the plan through Parliament. He understands why some might be uneasy but points out that "setting targets drives change".

Only 60% of the world population has access to clean drinking water and it also remains a problem in parts of Europe. On 12 March the 6th World Water Forum, the largest international event dedicated to water issues, starts in Marseille to discuss how to achieve water security. On Thursday MEPs will debate how the EU can use water management to fight poverty and mitigate the effects of climate change. This will be followed by a parliamentary resolution.

In the search for alternative sources of energy, extracting shale gas is becoming more popular but do the benefits outweigh the risks? It involves injecting large quantities of water into rock formations to recover gas trapped one or two kilometres beneath the surface. Supporters say the gas offers a clean and low-carbon fuel that could help reduce the EU's dependence on Russian energy supplies. However, critics say it puts the environment at risk, for example by contaminating groundwater.

The EU should continue with its scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes despite protests from other countries, according to the MEP who steered the legislation through Parliament. From 1 January, airlines flying to and from EU airports are required to acquire pollution permits as part of the EU’s broader emissions trading system (ETS). However, it has met with fierce opposition from countries such as China, Russia and the US.