Nice proposes "smooth driving" measures to cut air pollution

Speed bumps should be removed, speed limits made variable on England’s motorways, sometimes dropping as low as 50mph, and a congestion charge considered in more cities to cut air pollution and save lives, health experts have said.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) released a series of recommendations on Thursday which it said would “promote a smoother driving style” and help keep emissions down.

Health officials said vehicles created more emissions when they were speeding up and slowing down, as on congested motorways. To keep a more consistent speed, they said, the limit could be temporarily lowered to 50 or 60 mph when traffic is stop-start. That represented a “more sensible” approach than having lower fixed limits, Nice’s Prof Mark Baker said.

The officials added that some speed bumps encouraged people to speed up, then slow down. They urged planners to consider using average speed technology on the roads to promote smoother driving. Figures released earlier this year by the RAC Foundation showed that cameras measuring average speeds were now monitoring drivers on more than 250 miles of Britain’s roads. Sections covered range in length from a quarter of a mile on London’s Tower Bridge to 99 miles on the A9 between Dunblane and Inverness in Scotland.

On top of that, they want towns and cities with pollution problems to consider implementing clean air zones and look into the possibility of introducing congestion charging zones.

The draft guidance for England also contains proposals for “no-idling” zones around schools to prevent parents leaving their cars running during school drop-offs. Air pollution is a contributory factor to about 25,000 deaths a year in England, almost 5% of all deaths, Nice said, and road traffic is estimated to contribute to about a third of air pollution in urban sites.

Provisional figures show that road usage is at record levels, with an estimated 320bn vehicle miles travelled on Britain’s roads in the year ending September 2016.

Health campaigners welcomed the draft proposals, which were devised for local authority staff and are out for consultation, but environmental groups called for more stringent measures.

The British Lung Foundation said it backed the plans because “air pollution contributes to tens of thousands of early deaths every year” and the British Heart Foundation called them a “step in the right direction”.

Jenny Bates, a Friends of the Earth air pollution campaigner, said the proposals were to be welcomed but that “we must deal with the real crux of the issue and reduce air pollution levels”.

She said: “Action is needed both to ensure vehicles on the road are clean and that there are fewer of them. Diesel vehicles, which are the most polluting, must be phased out and our transport and planning policy needs a radical overhaul.”

Nice officials called for a review of trees lining streets in urban areas. “In some cases, they restrict street ventilation, causing poorer air quality. In others they improve it”. It also warns that solid barriers placed next to roads to mitigate noise can actually lead to a wider dispersal of pollution.

Other suggestions by Nice included:

• Town planners should avoid putting cycle routes on heavily polluted roads but, where this was unavoidable, they should consider using foliage to screen cyclists from vehicles. .

• Local authorities may want to look into setting a standard for the types of cars used for taxis.

• Some areas should consider public awareness initiatives such as “car-free days”. Those could be similar to measures sometimes used in Paris, which only allows drivers with a number plate ending in an odd or even number into the city on given days when pollution reaches high levels.

• House builders should place living rooms at the back of houses away from roads and hedgerows should be grown to protect cyclists using cycle paths.

Nice proposes "smooth driving" measures to cut air pollution

Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan proposes purchasing up London hospitals" PFI debt

The London mayoral hopeful Sadiq Khan has said he would contemplate buying up the debt owed by the capital’s hospitals to private firms under personal finance initiatives (PFI).

Responding to a new report on the economic impact of PFI on London’s health services, Khan mentioned relieving NHS trusts of their debt and supplying help in renegotiating PFI contracts would cost-free up funds to be place into patient care.

Khan stated the contracts have become “a millstone close to the necks” of London hospitals. He said: “For far as well prolonged, dealing with PFI debt has been put in the also challenging box. It’s time to make a difference.

“It’s abundantly clear from this report that numerous of our hospitals in London are suffocating under the excess weight of PFI debt and radical action needs to be taken to alleviate the increasing financial pressures they are coming beneath.”

The former shadow minister for London explained he would look at buying up PFI debt by borrowing cash on the open market place and issuing so-called Bevan bonds from the London mayor’s workplace, which he said would represent a saving for taxpayers.

Khan said he would inspire public bodies and institutions, this kind of as City Hall or London’s borough councils, to invest in the bonds, describing them as an ethical investment chance. But Khan’s crew acknowledged that City institutions and pension funds could also be essential to invest in the bonds in purchase to increase enough capital to fund the buyouts.

The report by the NHS Support Federation notes that the twenty hospital PFI schemes in London cost £2.7bn, but will call for payments totalling £20.2bn from the fifteen trusts in the capital over the 30-35 many years of the contracts. The annual expense of PFI repayments to London’s NHS trusts was £477m in 2014-15, with that figure estimated to rise to £542m by 2019-twenty.

Khan, the MP for Tooting, said he would set up a taskforce made up of monetary experts to operate with the management of NHS trusts to determine the ideal technique for them to lessen the debt burden.

He said he had been inspired the buyout of the PFI debt of hospitals underneath Northumbria Healthcare NHS believe in. In August 2012, Northumberland county council accepted a £120m, 25-12 months loan to the believe in to allow it to acquire out the PFI contracts for Hexham general hospital and Wansbeck general hospital. The trust estimated at the time that it would conserve about £84.6m on the combined expense of its two PFI schemes above the remaining 19 years of the contracts.

Below the last Labour government, almost a hundred hospitals have been built or accredited under PFI. In 2012, the Division of Overall health gave 7 NHS trusts a £1.5bn bailout to assist them manage their debts and in 2013, South London Healthcare NHS believe in was put into administration, partly due to its PFI obligations.

Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan proposes purchasing up London hospitals" PFI debt

Geoff Shaw proposes radical alterations to Victorias abortion laws

Geoff Shaw, the MP who holds the balance of power in the Victorian parliament, will place forward a bill that would radically alter the state’s abortion laws by banning partial-birth and gender variety abortions.

Shaw said he also wished doctors to give discomfort relief to foetuses throughout abortion procedures and for babies to be resuscitated if they survived abortion attempts.

The independent MP has previously voiced his objection to suggestions that demand medical doctors to refer a girl to another healthcare expert if the 1st medical doctor objects to abortion. Shaw says the system is as well onerous on anti-abortion medical professionals.

This bill goes a lot more, and could end result in the largest changes to Victoria’s abortion laws given that 2008, when the practice was decriminalised.

Shaw mentioned Victoria’s abortion laws had been between the worst in the planet, and maintained he was standing up for women’s rights.

“If in society we are saying there need to be a lot more women on boards, there must be a lot more females in parliament, nicely you are killing them,” Shaw informed the Herald Sun.

“Here in Australia we cannot kill snake eggs but we are quite happy to kill an egg in the tummy and it ought to be the safest area for a child to be.

“How can any girls who are professional-women’s rights say that you can destroy girls?”

Shaw resigned from the Liberal celebration in March amid moves for him to be expelled. The Coalition government, which had a one particular-seat majority before his departure from the party, relies on his vote to pass legislation.

Shaw, a committed Christian who has been involved in a series of controversial incidents which includes two physical altercations with taxi drivers, has explained he will use his stability of energy position to drive the greatest deal for his Frankston electorate.

The independent’s new bill will put stress on the premier, Denis Napthine, who has previously ruled out any modifications to the abortion laws.

There is help for change amongst some in the Coalition. In March, upper property Coalition MP Bernie Finn mentioned women who were raped must not have abortions.

Finn stated there was “no acceptable reason for having an abortion”, claiming that “many rapists and particularly paedophiles use abortion as a defence, they use it as a way to ruin the evidence”. Napthine condemned Finn’s comments as “inappropriate”.

Labor has stated it is towards any modifications to abortion laws, even though women’s groups have urged the government not to make the procedure harder for girls in search of an abortion.

Geoff Shaw proposes radical alterations to Victorias abortion laws

FDA Proposes Adjustments To Nutrition Label Including A lot more "Realistic" Serving Sizes

Get pleasure from a late-night bowl of ice cream? Confident you are consuming a “sensible” quantity of calories obtaining surveyed the back-of-package labeling? If that is you, the FDA is about to drop a sugar, unwanted fat and calorie-laden bomb all over your midnight delusions.

As portion of its proposal to update the Nutrition Details label that’s found on most food packages in the United States, as unveiled by 1st Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday, the FDA is revising serving sizes to reflect how considerably Americans in fact consume in one sitting nowadays. The recent serving sizes had been place in area in 1994, and there’s no question that appetites have grown because then.

At present, the labeling on a pint of ice cream claims to supply 4 servings that is just half a cup a serving. The new labeling doubles the portion sizes. A pint will give only two portions considering that that quantity is a much more genuine representation of how considerably is scooped into a bowl at a time. Ben &amp Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie taste currently functions 270 calories a serving. If the FDA’s modifications are implemented, the calorie count shoots up to 540 calories a serving. Less sensible, far more sensational.

Still, at least you’ll no longer be mystified as to why your jeans no longer match.

In one more example of a lot more practical serving sizes, each twelve ounce and 20 ounce bottles of drink will equal one serving (at existing, twenty ounce bottles declare to offer 2.five servings), since men and women generally consume the two drink sizes in one particular sitting. The calorie estimate will enhance by 50 percent or 150 percent accordingly and will aid folks realistically calculate and track their calorie consumption. And buyers will not be in a position to miss these markers either since the most visible adjust is that the calorie counts are greater and bolder for greater emphasis.

While most food items and drinks are consumed in higher quantities than the labeling presently admits, this isn’t the situation with every thing. In accordance to in depth FDA research single-sitting consumption quantity for yogurts have shrunk from eight ounces to six ounces and the new labeling will be amended to reflect this.

“For 20 many years shoppers have come to depend on the iconic nutrition label to assist them make healthier food choices,” explained FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “To remain relevant, the FDA’s newly proposed Nutrition Details label incorporates the newest in nutrition science as a lot more has been discovered about the connection in between what we consume and the advancement of serious persistent illnesses impacting millions of Americans.”

The Nutrition Facts label was launched 20 years ago and the label has not transformed drastically considering that 2006 when details on trans body fat had to be disclosed on the label. Companies had been successful impelled to reduce partially hydrogenated oils, the major supply of trans unwanted fat, in a lot of processed foods merchandise, says the FDA.

In another substantial proposed label change, the panel will feature a separate line for additional sugars. This is meant to support customers differentiate in between sugars that are naturally present in food items and sugars that are added in the manufacturing process. The end goal is to have consumers make a lot more healthful choices where they opt for meals with normal sugars from substances this kind of as fruit purees or dried fruits.

Additionally, companies have to maintain data for a time period of two many years so they can show the variation amongst natural and added refined sugars if questioned by the FDA.

Nutritionists advise that we need to get only about ten percent of our calorie consumption from sugar. This is equivalent to about 13 teaspoons of sugar per day. On average, Americans get over 42 teaspoons of sugar a day (based on two,000 calories per day).

To make the dietary labeling a lot more pertinent and a lot more streamlined, the proposal suggests cutting the listing of calories from fat. Experts say this marker can be misleading given that type of unwanted fat is much more considerable to wellness than sum, a consideration of the truth that there are very good fats and undesirable fats. As a reflection of this, “Total Excess fat,” “Saturated Body fat,” and “Trans Fat” will nonetheless be required on the label.

“For 20 years shoppers have come to rely on the iconic nutrition label to help them make healthier food choices,” stated FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “To remain relevant, the FDA’s newly proposed Nutrition Facts label incorporates the latest in nutrition science as more has been learned about the connection among what we consume and the advancement of severe persistent illnesses impacting hundreds of thousands of Americans.”

The FDA says that it is accepting public comment on the proposed adjustments for 90 days. Need to they be authorized, there is no timeline set for when the new specifications will be implemented.

Extra proposed label alterations, in accordance to the FDA:

• Present “dual column” labels to indicate the two “per serving” and “per package” calorie and nutrition data for greater packages that could be consumed in one particular sitting or multiple sittings.

• Demand the declaration of potassium and vitamin D, nutrients that some in the U.S. population are not obtaining ample of, which puts them at increased threat for chronic condition. Vitamin D is crucial for its function in bone well being. Potassium is advantageous in reducing blood strain. Nutritional vitamins A and C would no longer be required on the label, although companies could declare them voluntarily.

• Revise the Daily Values for a range of nutrients this kind of as sodium, dietary fiber and Vitamin D. Daily Values are utilized to calculate the Percent Every day Worth on the label, which aids shoppers understand the nutrition data in the context of a complete daily diet plan.

FDA Proposes Adjustments To Nutrition Label Including A lot more "Realistic" Serving Sizes