EU

“Squishies” – soft foam toys which have become a craze due to their squeeziness and scent – have been banned in Denmark after government tests found high levels of harmful substances.

During the recent Climate Change Conference in Bonn the EU announced it was increasing its post-2020 climate budget by five percent to €320 billion. But as ARTHUR WYNS reports, the strategy and rules behind the spending is just as important as the amount

Bee-killing insecticides will face a near total ban in Europe following a vote by member states in favour of proposals by the European Commission. The UK government supported the ban, which it says it will maintain after Brexit. CATHERINE EARLY reports

The threat to our existence from the destruction of rainforests is well documented. And across the globe the battle to save them continues. JACK DAVIES reports on how the lush forests of Cambodia continue to suffer at the hands of the illegal timber trade

Climate laws are being adopted around the world. MOLLY SCOTT CATO and JAKOB DALUNDE, MEPs for the UK and Sweden, consider whether legally binding commitments can save us from a climate crisis and pave the way towards a net zero emissions planet

The future of UK fisheries depends on a government white paper which is due this Spring. This will decide whether Britain will regulate fishing properly and sustainably after Brexit. ClientEarth, the environmental lawyers, argues this is essential for the future of marine life, writes BRENDAN MONTAGUE

BRENDAN MONTAGUE investigates how Brexiteers are seeking to redefine protected wildlife as a “scourge” to industry in part one of a new three-part series on EU environmental protections

CRAIG BENNETT, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth, is a self styled “hard remainer”. Craig led the environment charity's campaign to stay in the European Union. He argues leaving the EU poses a tremendous threat, not only to current environmental protections but also to any future legislation needed to tackle new challenges

This week the UK government announced a consultation on introducing a tax on single-use plastics, as part of its pledge to reduce plastic waste. But earlier this month ministers stepped back from plans to introduce a charge for non-recyclable coffee cups - putting the government’s war on plastic and promise of a Green Brexit under scrutiny. JOSEPH DUTTON investigates

The idea of the UK setting its own fishing limits post Brexit is welcomed by many fishermen. But it could be detrimental to fish stocks as countries put their own interests ahead of the collective good, argues GRIFFIN CARPENTER

The expansion of logging quotas in the Bialowieza Forest in Poland threatened one of Europe's oldest woodlands. However, the resignation of a minister and today's legal opinion from the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the EU suggest the trees are safe. CATHERINE HARTE and BRENDAN MONTAGUE report

Though the Earth loses forests at an alarming rate, the EU has yet to take decisive action against the most severe causes of deforestation. The EU must now act swiftly to ensure its consumption no longer drives forest destruction, writes SÉBASTIEN RISSO

Ecuador is the latest country to tear up 'free trade' agreements that have so far cost the country $21 billion in damages awarded to foreign companies by 'corporate courts', and yielded next to nothing in return, writes Nick Dearden. So the outgoing President Correa did the only sensible thing: in one of his final executive acts this month, he scrapped 16 toxic trade and investment treaties.

When Prime Minister Theresa May went to Brussels to hand in her 'Article 50' Brexit notice, she was also pursuing a separate, covert objective, writes Zachary Davies Boren. Leaked papers show that the UK was lobbying to gut new EU rules and targets on renewable energy and energy efficiency - even though they will only come into force after Brexit.

A 'Friend of the Sea' Dutch-owned trawler certified to supply 'sustainably caught' shrimp to the US and EU was arrested in Liberia after operating in an an area reserved for artisanal fishers, writes Peter Hammarstedt. The vessel, which had no licence and lacked the turtle excluders required by law, was discovered by the crew of Sea Shepherd's 'Bob Barker' in a joint mission with the Liberian Coast Guard to clamp down on rampant illegal fishing.

The participation of the fossil fuel industry in UN climate talks represents clear a conflict of interest, writes Pascoe Sabido. And nowhere has this been more apparent than at this month's UNFCCC meeting in Bonn, where fossil fuel representatives have slowed progress to a snail's pace. With just six months to go before November's COP23 negotiations, it's time to defy the US, EU and Australia, and kick fossil fuel lobbyists out!

A 2001 study that showed that glyphosate caused cancer in mice was ignored by the EFSA after the unsubstantiated allegation of a former US-EPA official that the mice used in the study were suffering from a viral infection that might have given them cancer, writes Claire Robinson. The EFSA failed to properly investigate the allegation, which appears to originate in a document linked to Monsanto, maker of the world's top-selling herbicide, glyphosate-based Roundup.

Recognising nature as a legal stakeholder with inalienable rights in environmental law proceedings is a powerful counterbalance to corporate dictatorship, writes Mumta Ito. It empowers people and governments to stand up for nature - the underlying basis of our economy and our lives. And it stands in contrast to feeble approaches based on the financialisation and commodification of nature, which may be twisted to justify more destruction.

It's barely mentioned in the election campaign or reported in the media. But a powerful faction of Tory ministers, ex-ministers and backbench MPs are bent on using Brexit to ignite a massive bonfire of 'spirit-crushing' laws on wildlife protection, air and water pollution, pesticides, renewable energy and public health, writes Brendan Montague. At risk are not just EU directives and regulations but even the UK's own Climate Change Act. May's Brexit may not just be hard, but very, very dirty.

MEPs vote today on proposals to cut air pollution by setting up an independent EU monitoring body to ensure that a scandal like Dieselgate never happens again, writes Keith Taylor. However fears are growing that Brexit promises the UK a bonfire of environmental laws including those on air pollution. We need a strong, new Clean Air Act now!

Advocates claim that synthetic biology and the so-called New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) are distinct from genetic engineering (GE), write Helena Paul, Elisabeth Bücking & Ricarda Steinbrecher. In fact synthetic biology and NBTs carry similar risks to old-style GE, and even create novel hazards. The 'new GE' techniques - as they should be named - and their products deserve regulation at least as strict as those applying to GMOs.

The UK's inability to import radio-isotopes for cancer therapy is just the latest outcome of the UK's decision to leave EURATOM to hit the headlines, writes Pete Roche. It may also put a brake on the UK's plans to build new nuclear plants, and import and export nuclear fuel and wastes. The UK's exit from the treaty, as a strongly pro-nuclear state, could also mark an EU-wide anti-nuclear swing.

With most of our food exports going to the EU, and most of our food imports coming from the EU, Molly Scott Cato wondered what plans the government had for the sector after Brexit. The answer? None! Two reports published today map out a positive future of sustainable farming, local food, thriving rural economies and abundant biodiversity. But is the government on the same page?

Letters from an EPA toxicologist to the EPA official in charge of assessing whether glyphosate, the active ingredient of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, causes cancer, reveal accusations of 'staff intimidation' and 'political conniving games with the science' to favour pesticide corporations, writes Carey Gillam. Could this be a game-changer for cancer-suffering plaintiffs?