Nessa's Blog
Childers calls on MEPs to support Traffic Light food labelling system
Posted on March 15, 2010 by Andy White
Nessa Childers MEP wants the European Parliament to adopt a new law that would force food manufacturers to carry a ‘traffic light’ colour coding on the levels of calories, sugar and fats contained in their products.
The Labour MEP says the EU’s proposed new food labelling initiative, which will be voted on tomorrow (Tuesday, 16th March) by the Parliament's Public Health & Food Safety Committee of which Nessa Childers is a Member, should not stop there.
Ms Childers said: “The ‘traffic light’ system is a simple, universally understood and transparent system that, if adopted, will go a long way towards helping to tackle Europe’s ticking obesity, diabetes, stroke and heart disease time-bomb.
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Airbrushing in teen magazines must be labelled
Posted on March 15, 2010 by Andy White
Labour MEP Nessa Childers is calling for mandatory labelling of airbrushed photographs in magazines aimed at young people following the recent publication of a major report into the practice.
“The report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK, from where many magazines on Irish shelves originate, makes it crystal clear that airbrushing plays a harmful role when it comes to negative body image and eating disorders. Airbrushing has a really damaging impact on people’s self-esteem and that’s why I am now calling for the European Commission to investigate the issue and consider introducing a mandatory warning label system.
"As a former mental health professional myself, I worked with many young Irish women who suffered from eating disorders and from depression due to lack of self-esteem and having poor self-image. Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses. Any quick look at the publications on the shelves of our local newsagents shows that this has really gone too far. Virtually no photograph in any glossy magazine one cares to mention hasn’t been given the airbrush treatment.
"We already know from research that over 70% of Irish teenagers feel negatively affected by media portrayal of body weight and shape. Based on the ‘2007 KIDSCREEN’ study of children across 13 countries, Irish teenagers ranked second last in terms of self-perception. This must be a worrying to all Irish parents.
"Today's unrealistic idea of what is beautiful means that young girls are under huge pressure. Airbrushing means that these magazines contain completely unattainable images that no one can possibly live up to in real life. No one really has perfect skin, perfect hair and a perfect figure, but women and young girls increasingly feel that nothing less than thin and perfect will do. And this is not just a female issue – it affects many young men also with 10% of cases of anorexia and bulimia affecting males.
"I have raised this issue with the European Commission and I am demanding that they investigate this matter not only from a health perspective but also as on the possible grounds of false advertising. I want proposals to mandate magazines and other publications to print a warning on digitally enhanced photographs. We may not be able to stop the practice outright but a warning label must be the first step forward.”
After a recent meeting with Ms.Childers on the issue of airbrushing in Irish magazines, James Doorley, Chairman of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland stated “We would support measures such as a warning label to alert consumers that the lifestyle and fashion images are unrealistic and doctored. We also believe that organisations such as Magazines Ireland and the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland should step up to the plate and ensure that all visual material used in articles and advertising are honest and truthful and is included with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society, in particular material aimed at children and young people. We would welcome EU intervention in this area also given that many of the magazines and material aimed at young people comes from outside Ireland.”
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Enormous gender balance still exists in political life
Posted on March 12, 2010 by Andy White
Do we need a quota system to ensure that women are fairly represented in electoral politics? Undoubtedly, the answer is yes.
Ten to fifteen years ago, I would have been optimistic that Irish society and Irish politics was on course to reach a much fairer and equitable balance of gender representation than that which currently exists.
We saw two women Presidents in that period. We saw two women Tanaisti. Yet despite these achievements, an enormous gender balance still exists in our national Parliament and on local authorities.
It is no exaggeration to say that progress for women in electoral politics in Ireland has been painfully slow. Without legal quota systems, progress will continue to be lethargic at best.
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Ireland should fully embrace European label initiative
Posted on March 10, 2010 by Andy White
The new EU-wide European Heritage Label initiative launched today by the European Commission should be fully embraced by the government in order to build on Ireland’s potential as a significant cultural tourism destination, Labour MEP Nessa Childers said.
She said: “I am disappointed that Ireland had not been involved in the initial stages of the project given the stated importance of niche cultural tourism to the Irish economy which has been trumpeted at both the celebrated Global Irish Forum in Farmleigh and in the government’s own Building Ireland’s Smart Economy strategy.
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Childers welcomes new EU stance on climate talks
Posted on March 09, 2010 by Andy White
Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg today Nessa Childers welcomed the new EU stance on climate talks.
She was speaking in reaction to the Commission’s proposals for shaping the international negotiation process in the run-up to the Cancun conference at the end of 2010.
Nessa Childers, Ireland’s only full member of the European Parliament Environment Committee said: “I welcome the new stance taken by the Commission on the possibility of moving to a 30 per cent target cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
“The Commission now states it will propose moving to the higher target 'if conditions are right'. This is a new stance which means that we will no longer be held hostage by the climate laggards in the US and China. It also signals that the new Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard is taking a more ambitious line.
"The Commissioner has said she will prepare an analysis of practical measures that would be required to implement a possible reduction of emissions up to 30%, including an analysis of contributions required by different sectors. In such a depressing period for all those who care about the international climate change talks, this is a welcome development.
“The EU leadership always insists that Europe leads by example on this issue, well it is now time to start proving it. I believe that reaching higher targets on emissions is now much more achievable than first thought. There is a clear economic win-win involved in pursuing higher targets too.
“Reductions in GHG emissions of 30 per cent or even higher would have a revolutionary impact on European economies. It would help create the dynamic and the demand needed to drive the development of the clean energy sector, leading to a massive increase in indigenous and sustainable green jobs.”
"Ahead of meeting of EU Environment Ministers on 15 March, I call on Environment Minister John Gormley to exert influence at this meeting to push the EU toward this higher emissions cut target as soon as possible."
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Pet passport agreement will help keep Ireland rabies free Childers tells Parliament
Posted on March 09, 2010 by Andy White
Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg last night, Nessa Childers MEP told members that an agreement on a new ‘pet passports’ system would help keep countries such as Ireland rabies-free.
The Labour MEP said: “The case of a 38 year old woman who died in Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast last year was a timely reminder of the ongoing threat posed by rabies to Ireland.
“It is believed that she contracted the disease while trying to break up a fight between two dogs while on a working holiday to South Africa. More recently four people had to receive preventative injections in Dublin after an illegally imported kitten bit them.
“Rabies is one of the oldest zoonotic diseases which affects humans and is invariably fatal once symptoms have occurred. While we are lucky in Ireland not to have had an indigenous case of rabies since 1903, global travel patterns mean that the disease is never far from our door.
“It is for this reason that Ireland practices strict quarantines of imported animals, and it is only because of these stringent measures that we are able to maintain our status as rabies-free.
“In order to continue this record it is crucial that the transitional agreement, which this proposal would extend until the end of next year, is not allowed to lapse in July 2010.
“The additional safeguards contained in the proposed report are also crucial to both human and animal health, as they will help the fight not just against rabies but also against specific ticks and tapeworms from which Ireland is currently free.
“By accepting this proposal, Mr. President, this house would facilitate the fight against rabies not only in Ireland, but would also provide a base for its eradication across Europe. For these reasons the urgency of this matter must not go understated.”
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Childers wants Irish Angling protected by reformed common fisheries policy
Posted on March 02, 2010 by Andy White
Recreational angling, an integral part of Ireland’s sporting life and a major tourism pull-factor should be protected in the new Common Fisheries Policy, Nessa Childers MEP told the European Parliament today.
She warned that attempts to impose controls on shore angling and to deduct these catches from the quotas of the commercial industry could have a serious affect on earnings in Ireland’s already troubled tourist industry.
Childers, a member of the European Parliament's Culture and Education Committee, argued that its low status compared to commercial fishing should not allow the importance of recreational angling to be ignored in the new Policy.
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Childers slams EU double standards on question of human rights in Israel
Posted on March 01, 2010 by Andy White
Labour MEP Nessa Childers today accused the European Union of applying “a policy of double-standards” on the question of human rights in its relationship with Israel.
She said that the EU’s economic treatment of Israel compared to other countries involved in human rights abuses left Europe wide open to the fully warranted charge of hypocrisy in the conduct of its external relations.
Nessa Childers explained: "Recently, the EU rightly withdrew preferential trade benefits from Sri Lanka due to well documented human rights abuses. Yet the EU consistently refuses to use the same logic with Israel, despite years of well documented, high-profile cases of ongoing human rights abuses.
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Minister Martins Gaza visit can kick start push for peace in the region
Posted on February 25, 2010 by Andy White
Labour MEP Nessa Childers, who was the most recent senior Irish politician to be allowed access to Gaza has said that Minister Micheál Martin’s visit to Gaza can help to “kick-start talks on a peace settlement in the region.”
The MEP who visited Gaza last month with a group of politicians from 13 separate countries said: “Having been to Gaza in January where I met with elected members of Hamas including disputed Prime Minister of the Palestinian government Ismail Haniva, I remain convinced that the EU and Ireland in particular can play an enormously positive role acting as a persuader and facilitator in assisting moves towards a peaceful and just settlement of the Palestinian question.
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Childers highlights SRT workers plight in European Parliament
Posted on February 25, 2010 by Andy White
Nessa Childers MEP highlighted the plight of former SR Technics workers in the European Parliament today.
Speaking in the Parliament, she expressed her concerns that former workers have been denied places at third-level colleges because of ongoing delays by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in processing an application for support for the workers to up-skill under the European Globalisation Fund.
The Leinster MEP said: he patience of redundant SR Technics workers living in the counties of Meath, Louth, Wicklow, Kildare and Dublin is being sorely tested at the moment by the Irish government.
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