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HEALTH

France warned to avoid 100 ‘toxic’ household products

In a report set to be published on Tuesday, the magazine 60 Millions Consumers said that a worrying number of household products in France contained "toxic" substances.

Published: 11 April 2016 11:26 CEST
France warned to avoid 100 'toxic' household products
Photo: Komunews/Flicks
Just in time for spring cleaning, the group is releasing a study into the contents of over 100 typical household products.
 
“Bad news,” the magazine wrote. “Almost all of them contained at least one undesirable substance.”
 
These include allergenics, irritants, corrosives, and ingredients containing environmental risks.
 
This comes after recent reports of big-name cosmetics products to avoid and 107 supermarket foods that were blacklisted last week. 
 
The magazine singled out cleaning products including Skip, Cilit Bang, Mr. Propre, and La Croix.
 
It also inspected softeners, fresheners for refrigerators and dishwashers, cleaners for washing machines, and more. 
 
The editor of the magazine said that the detergent industry seemed set on equipping the French with “an arsenal of products as if there was a war”. 
 
“People need to be better informed and to make better decisions,” she told Le Parisien newspaper. 
 
“The idea is to raise the public's awareness about the two sides of each of these products, which are promising us softness and freshness, but which are actually aggressive.”
 
The new magazine, available on Tuesday, offers a series of tips for natural cleaning remedies, as well as tips to “decoding the jargon” on the back of cleaning products. 
 

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HEALTH

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

Danish Minister for the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde has warned that, despite increasing activity at hospitals, it will be some time before current waiting lists are reduced.

Published: 10 May 2023 15:09 CEST
Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

The message comes as Løhde was set to meet with officials from regional health authorities on Wednesday to discuss the progress of an acute plan for the Danish health system, launched at the end of last year in an effort to reduce a backlog of waiting times which built up during the coronavirus crisis.

An agreement with regional health authorities on an “acute” spending plan to address the most serious challenges faced by the health services agreed in February, providing 2 billion kroner by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

The national organisation for the health authorities, Danske Regioner, said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten earlier this week that progress on clearing the waiting lists was ahead of schedule.

Some 245,300 operations were completed in the first quarter of this year, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2022 and over the agreed number.

Løhde said that the figures show measures from the acute plan are “beginning to work”.

“It’s positive but even though it suggests that the trend is going the right way, we’re far from our goal and it’s important to keep it up so that we get there,” she said.

“I certainly won’t be satisfied until waiting times are brought down,” she said.

“As long as we are in the process of doing postponed operations, we will unfortunately continue to see a further increase [in waiting times],” Løhde said.

“That’s why it’s crucial that we retain a high activity this year and in 2024,” she added.

Although the government set aside 2 billion kroner in total for the plan, the regional authorities expect the portion of that to be spent in 2023 to run out by the end of the summer. They have therefore asked for some of the 2024 spending to be brought forward.

Løhde is so far reluctant to meet that request according to Jyllands-Posten.

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