Comprehensive analyses of a region's food and dietary trends, along with their respective effects on human health, can help maximize the public health effects of government campaigns and research programs. This is one of the main conclusions of the RIVM report 'Our food, our health: healthy diet and safe food in the Netherlands', which was presented on 19 May 2006 to Herman Koëter, Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority. The original publication in Dutch (Ons eten gemeten) is one of the most consulted RIVM-reports to date. According to Koëter it 'will be a leading document in Europe and probably beyond when it comes to making risk-benefit analyses of our food and diets'.

to press release     to report 'Our food, our health'

Anatomical and physiological differences between animals, and between humans and animals, have an impact on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of compounds. By choosing intra- and interspecies options, users can access parameter lists for inter- and intraspecies knowledge and comparison. Such a facility may well benefit pharmacokineticists, toxicologists and risk assessors in designing and/or interpreting animal studies.

Water fowl infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus may contaminate surface water. However, the risk that humans and individual chickens will be infected by this virus is negligible if drinking-water treatment is efficient. The risk that large poultry farms will be contaminated increases (up to more than 1%) where treatment is less efficient. Good management practices and surveillance to ensure efficient treatment practices are important factors for avoiding contamination via drinking water. 

RIVM has released two reports presenting a comprehensive review of the opportunities and risks of nanomedicine. Novel applications in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease have the potential to fundamentally change health care. However, further research is needed on the possible health risks that could be associated with this innovative technology. 

more information

to reports: 
Nanotechnology in medical applications: State-of-the-art in materials and devices
Nanotechnology in medical applications: Possible risks for human health

You can access current information via www.mnp.nl/en/ .  Please update your present bookmarks referring to the RIVM website.

According to calculations made by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and the National Airspace Laboratory (NLR), the risk of aircraft incidents due to air traffic coming and going from Schiphol Amsterdam Airport has increased since 1990. This risk was calculated per specific location and then mapped. The increase in risks from now up to 2010 is expected to be limited.

to English summary  to original report (in Dutch)

A recent European project in which 13 European laboratories cooperated showed certification of new reference materials for water microbiology to, indeed, be feasible. Certification is an important means for comparing the quality of drinking water and bathing water throughout Europe. Within this project, the eight most important microorganisms for water microbiology were analysed using three different reference materials (capsules, lenticules and pastilles) to determine the optimal conditions for both production and certification of these materials.

In the process of starting up the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Dr. Marc Sprenger, Director-General of the RIVM, is elected as chairman of the ECDC’s Management Board. The mission of this new EU agency is to strengthen Europe’s defences against infectious diseases, such as SARS, influenza and HIV-AIDS, by creating a network of disease control agencies in the Member States.

The main objective of the model, FAIR 2.0, is to support policy makers in assessing the implications of alternative international climate regimes for differentation of future mitigation commitments. The new version also evaluates the abatement costs of various burden sharing regimes.
A special demo version is now available for download at the renewed FAIR website.

To the FAIR-site