New staff

In May 2007, Janaina Topley Lira joined the Health and Environment Alliance for a six-month internship. Janaina will help the secretariat with the following tasks: drafting and editing of the forthcoming Primer on Environment and Health and future HEAL newsletters; follow-up of the “Stay Healthy, Stop Mercury” campaign; updating the HEAL website with news articles; and assisting the Secretariat with various communications and advocacy tasks.

New publications

 Mercury and Dental Amalgam Fact Sheet
 Halting the Child Brain Drain - mercury report in German
 Substituting mercury in sphygmomanometers fact sheet (Spanish)
 Dirty air and your lungs - Fact Sheet for children. Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Polish, Russian.
 Joint NGO publication "My voice - How You Can Demand Better Protection of Human Health and the Environment from Hazardous Chemicals"

Press releases and open letters

 Media advisor: Too early to celebrate REACH, 25/5/2007
 A real mouthful: Why mercury fillings should be banned, 29/5/2007
 Ministers must seize initiative to reduce chemical water pollution, 22/5/2007
 Heading closer to a robust EU mercury export ban, 7/5/2007

 Open letter to Commissioners Dimas and Verheugen on REACH, 25/5/2007

Conferences and meetings

On 25 May, the Health & Environment Alliance and the European Environment Bureau held a conference on “Dental Sector as a Source of Mercury Contamination” in Brussels. The conference looked at recent political and legislative developments at the EU level as well as at Member States’ and stakeholders’ perspectives on the issue. More information.

On 24 May, Christian Farrar-Hockley participated in the DG SANCO Working Party on Environment and Health, followed on 25 May by the Indoor Air Quality expert group.

On 10-11 May, the HEAL team held a staff retreat to discuss past achievements and the long-term vision of the organisation.

On 7 May, Monica Guarinoni attended an NGO meeting on the future review of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP "Health Check").