SNIPPETS

• The World Wildlife Fund for Nature has called on the International Marine Organization and the international shipping community to outlaw tributylin, a paint used to stop shellfish and other marine life from sticking to ship hulls. Tributylin pollutes the marine food chain and contains endocrine-disrupting properties.

• The European Commission has initiated legal action against eight EU states (Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain), for failing to submit plans that allocate how much CO2 their industries may emit in 2008-2012. The plans were due by the end of June 2006.

• Mitsubishi Motors Corp has announced that it would work with several Japanese utilities to study the feasibility of commercialising electric vehicles.The new car, called MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle), is equipped with a single motor.