WRITTEN QUESTION E-0915/01 by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Urban audit in Braga.
Date: 2001-03-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Portugal, audit, quality of life, urban area

13.11.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 318 E/153

(2001/C 318 E/164)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0915/01

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 March 2001)

Subject: Urban audit in Braga

On 17 June 1998 the Portuguese newspaper (cid:145)DiÆrio do Minho(cid:146) reported that the European Commission
was to promote an urban audit of Braga to be carried out in the context of a programme to increase
knowledge about the quality of life in cities, which would involve 58 European cities, the aim being to
gather information for the drafting of urban policies as well as to increase knowledge about urban areas.

It added that the assessment, scheduled to take a year, was to be carried out by the European Economic
Research and Advisory Consortium.

Can the Commission say what assessment was made of the Portuguese cities involved, which according to
the newspaper article were Braga, Lisbon and Oporto?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(21 May 2001)

The urban audit was carried out by the Commission in 58 of Europe(cid:146)s largest cities to gather information
on the quality of life.

The results,
available on following website: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/urban/audit

including a comparison of all the cities covered, were published in April 2000 and are

In Portugal, the audit was carried out in Lisbon, Oporto and Braga. Information on the three cities is given
under the heading (cid:145)Search by city(cid:146) on the above site and can be compared with that for the other cities
covered under the heading (cid:145)Search by domain(cid:146). These sections exist only in English.

(2001/C 318 E/165)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0917/01

by Anneli HulthØn (PSE) to the Commission

(28 March 2001)

Subject: Amalgam and health

Does the Commission consider that the use of amalgam is a public health problem in the Union? If it does,
does it have a plan for future action?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(18 June 2001)

Dental amalgams are medical devices covered by the Directive 93/42/EEC of 14 June 1993 (1) on medical
devices. In 1997, a Working Group, set up under the Medical Devices Experts Group, composed of
representatives of national authorities, patients, the dental profession and industry produced a report on
the use of dental amalgams in relation to health risks. It concluded, inter alia, that all dental restorative
materials have the potential for causing some adverse reactions and that most contain components which
it also concluded that currently available data indicate that mercury from dental
are toxic. However,
amalgams will not cause an unacceptable risk to the general population. Local reactions to dental
amalgams fillings and other dental restorative materials do occur but are relatively rare; cases have also
been reported of such reactions to materials used as alternatives to dental amalgams. According to the
report, the benefits of restoring teeth with dental amalgam outweigh significantly the documented risks,
and the risk-benefit ration corresponds to the currently acknowledged and accepted state of the art.