WRITTEN QUESTION No. 749/99 by Anita POLLACK Cryptosporidium
21. 12. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 370/99 More particularly, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and crafts businesses will continue to receive processing and marketing aid and may also be eligible for aid under the measures for the adjustment and development of rural areas. This will cover a significant proportion of the areas of activity in which such firms are active and should have a particular impact in mountain areas due to the particularly acute demand for such assistance. the draft Commission guidelines on the Structural Funds programmes for the period 2000-06 (1) give priority to SMEs as the vehicle for regional economic development and employment. In addition, (1) SEC(99) 103 final. (1999/C 370/142) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0745/99 by Anita Pollack (PSE) to the Commission (29 March 1999) Subject: Fisheries and sustainability Does the Commission ensure that PESCA funding is used to support nature conservation objectives? If not, why not? Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission (23 April 1999) Funding from the PESCA operational programme is not provided directly for nature conservation schemes, as that is not its goal, but a number of PESCA measures have positive repercussions on the conservation of natural resources. These include the protection of overexploited species and marine ecosystems through support for schemes to channel fishing effort towards new species and new fishing zones and for pilot projects for monitoring the impact of fishing effort and the mapping of the sea bed, alongside support for improvements in and facilities for extensive fishfarming and for environmentally-friendly fishfarming methods (new waste recycling processes and extensive sea bed mussel farming)and training for fishermen in sustainable fisheries management. PESCA represents therefore an important source of funding for innovative projects which seek to combine the goal of an economically viable sector with the safeguarding of fish stocks and marine ecosystems and to test new strategies for the sustainable management of sea fisheries and fishfarming. (1999/C 370/143) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0749/99 by Anita Pollack (PSE) to the Commission (29 March 1999) Subject: Cryptosporidium Does the Commission have any research (or is there any in progress) on the infectivity of type 1 cryptosporidium as distinct from that of type 2? Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (30 April 1999) The Commission is funding, within the Biomed 2 programme, a project on cryptosporidiosis (1) which started on 1 May 1997 with a duration of 36 months. Although cryptosporidium infection in people with intact immune function is asymptomatic or self- limited, infants and immunodeficient individuals are at severe risk from infection. Transmission takes place person-person or animal-person, often via contaminated water. At present, there are no effective diagnostic