MEPs are demanding strict new rules on the safety of prescription drugs. The aim is to ensure that information on potential dangers is shared so that medicines showing dangerous side effects can be withdrawn across the EU. It follows the scandal surrounding the French diabetes treatment Mediator which remained available long after potential risks were first highlighted. The dramatic side effects weren't assessed accurately because there were 5,000,000 people who took Mediator and between 200 and 2,000 deaths following its use. The EU's Globalisation Adjustment Fund was set up to help retrain those who've lost their jobs through plant closures in the crisis. Now MEPs have voted €7.8 million to assist shipyard workers from Odense in Denmark and construction workers from Spain's Aragon region. Local authorities contribute half as much again to helping the people find new jobs. This gives them an opportunity to learn new skills and that's why it's important, so they can get a life again. MEPs want to speed up investigations into claims that EU states helped in the capture, detention and transport of suspects by the CIA. Some states say they are investigating claims of 'extraordinary renditions' and secret prisons, but there have been delays the European Parliament finds unacceptable. How can we promote human rights and democracy outside the EU if the EU itself is not in a position to recognise facts as serious as these?
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