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Food Safety

A major interest of the European Commission is to guarantee the highest standard of food safety in the European Union. This is met by broad support from the German Government. This priority is reflected in the White Paper on Food Safety which was adopted by the EU Commission on 12 January 2000 and subsequently presented to the public. The aim of the White Paper is to establish the prerequisites for high standard food safety in the European Union.

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Protection against noise

Noise considerably impairs the quality of life for many people. High noise levels can also represent a health risk. Traffic noise is now one of the main environmental problems in our densely populated country. In addition, there are noise emissions at work and at school, during leisure activities like sports or games and even while gardening. In the key concern of noticeably improving protection against noise, environmental policies look to the overall concept of sustainability.

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Chemical Safety

In its work on chemicals safety, the BMU has focused on 12 persistent organic pollutants, the so-called "dirty dozen". These highly dangerous substances (such as DDT or dioxin) all have one thing in common: they are highly toxic and degrade only slowly. Furthermore, they do not remain at the point of input - as volatile substances they can cover vast distances via water or air, especially in the direction of the Earth's poles.

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Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is booming. Nanotechnology is concerned with the management and specifically the study and use of very small structures. The key is that the nanometre scale of substances alone allows new functions and properties to arise, e.g. hardness and fracture strength, but also conducting and storage capacity. In the medium term nanotechnology is expected to have an impact on almost all areas of industry.

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