PvdD leader Marianne Thieme is temporarily stepping out of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, because she is ill. Exactly what illness she has, was not disclosed for privacy reasons. Thieme hopes to be healthy and working again in 16 weeks, her spokesperson said to RTL Nieuws.
In addition to her work as parliamentarian, Thieme is also temporarily stopping her international work.
Dutch food safety authority NVWA is facing fierce criticism in the Tweede Kamer on Thursday. The parliamentarians have nothing good to say about the NVWA's actions in dealing with millions of Dutch eggs being contaminated by toxic insecticide fipronil. In summary, the MPs accused the NVWA of not communicating well, not responding adequately to an anonymous tip about the contamination and having an inadequate setup to deal with such a crisis, NU.nl reports.
The Tweede Kamer is cutting its summer holiday short in order to debate the fipronil contamination of eggs from Dutch poultry farms with Public Health Minister Edith Schippers and State Secretary Martijn van Dam of Economic Affairs, NU.nl reports.
Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA denies that it first learned that eggs were maybe contaminated by toxic fipronil in November last year. The authority did receive a report about fipronil in that month, but that report only stated that it had been used to clean stables - there was no reason to believe that it could end up in eggs and pose a potential health risk, inspector general Rob van Lint said on Wednesday, RTL Nieuws reports.
The spokesman for lower house of parliament leader Anouchka van Miltenburg issued an apology for Van Miltenburg’s claim that Tuesday night’s natural gas debate was “much ado about nothing.” The VVD politician made the remark after a debate on the Dutch safety board’s recommendation for overhauling natural gas extraction in Groningen, believed to be the cause of hundreds of earthquakes in the northern province.
As far as the Party for the Animals is concerned, there will be a ban on substances in pesticides, which 'very likely' cause of the so-called resistant aspergillus fungus. This fungus causes severe pulmonary infections in humans.
PvdD MP Esther Ouwehand called on Thursday for an immediate ban on five substances in pesticides used in the cultivation of example cabbage and carrot.
