News Archive
June 2007
Scholarship Support from John Smith & Son's Bookshop
Report Criticises Official Complacency on UK Work Cancer Epidemic
TV Chef Nick Nairn and Footballer Alan Hansen Among Stirling Summer Honours
Scholarship Support from John Smith & Son's Bookshop
Date released: Friday 8 June 2007
Access students at the University of Stirling have each received £100 in book vouchers from John Smith & Son Booksellers to help support them in their studies:
- Colin Barr from Stirling
- Katie Bradley from Stirling
- Shirley Calder from Alloa
- Amie Cook from Alloa
- Sharon Douglas from Crieff
- Karin Farr from Falkirk
- Peta Tillman from Stirling
- Tracy Whiting from Cumbernauld
- Hannah Whitelaw from Blairgowrie
Willie Anderson, Deputy Chairman of John Smith & Son Booksellers, presented the students with their awards at a ceremony hosted by Deputy Principal Professor Sandra Marshall on Thursday 7 June.
In presenting the awards, Mr Anderson said: “John Smith's believes that it plays a significant part in the daily life of the University and has done so since the institution was founded, so we think it is incumbent upon us to demonstrate the partnership by assisting some students in achieving their academic aims. We have seen, over the past forty years, the sacrifices that some students have had to make in gaining a place at Stirling and this is a tangible way of alleviating a few pressures for some of them.”
The University bookshop is also celebrating an award of its own. The branch has been voted the second best Campus and Academic bookshop in the UK and Ireland. The award was presented by the Publishers’ Association and is highly coveted within the trade. For further information see: www.johnsmith.co.uk
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
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Suzie Huggins University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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Report Criticises Official Complacency on UK Work Cancer Epidemic
Date released: Tuesday 26 June 2007
Work-related cancers will claim thousands of lives each year for a further working generation as a result of the “shocking complacency” of the government’s health and safety watchdog, a new report is warning. ‘Burying the evidence’ says the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has neither the resources nor the strategy to tackle the workplace carcinogen exposures killing at least 12,000 people each year.
The report, by Professors Andrew Watterson and Rory O’Neill of the University of Stirling ’s Occupational and Environmental Health Research Group, says HSE’s action plan – unveiled at a London seminar on 25-26 June - omits a range of occupational cancers, grossly under-estimates the risks of others and excludes entirely some of the most high risk groups of workers.
“HSE’s recommendations for action range from complacent to non-existent,” says Professor Watterson. “Its evaluations on cancer causing substances including benzene, cadmium, diesel exhaust and wood dust are error-ridden, inadequate and outdated, whole categories of workers known to be at high risk are ignored, and HSE cannot quantify and continues to neglect the risk to women.”
Breast cancer, the major occupational and environmental cancer risk for women, “is entirely off HSE’s radar,” Professor Watterson says. “The net result of this shocking complacency will be needless exposures and avoidable deaths.”
The report puts the cost to the UK of occupational cancer deaths at between £29.5bn and £59bn a year. Preventing just 100 of these deaths a year would more than offset the entire annual HSE budget.
Report co-author Professor Rory O’Neill says: “HSE’s approach will do little or nothing to reduce either the volumes or the numbers of cancer-causing substances used in Britain’s workplaces. This guarantees a new working generation will face a preventable cancer risk. Asbestos still kills thousands every year and the epidemic has yet to peak. We are already seeing evidence of cancers in microelectronic workers, an industry just one working generation old, and it is anybody’s guess how work in the nanotech industry will impact on health.”
Only a small proportion of industrial chemicals have been tested thoroughly for chronic health effects, he adds.
The report was prepared for the Cancer Prevention Coalition, an alliance of academics, trades unions and environmental and occupational cancer campaigners. Hilda Palmer of the Hazards Campaign, a member of the coalition, says: “Occupational cancer is not a disease of the boardroom – almost all the risk is borne by just one-fifth of the workforce. They are not told they are at risk, they are not provided health surveillance and they don’t get the early diagnosis that can be the difference between living and dying. They are not dying of ignorance; they are dying of neglect.”
‘Burying the evidence’ calls for “sunsetting” to phase out where possible many common workplace carcinogens, and a “Toxics Use Reduction” policy to help wean companies on to safer alternative substances and processes. These approaches have worked well elsewhere, and have been supported by both workplace and environmental health advocates and industry. The coalition says the UK government should recognise work-related cancers as a major public health priority.
'Burying the evidence: How the UK is prolonging the occupational cancer epidemic’, by Professors Andrew Watterson and Rory O’Neill of Stirling University, can be viewed online at: www.hazards.org/cancer/hsecriticism
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
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(01786) 467058
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Professor Andrew Watterson University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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TV Chef Nick Nairn and Footballer Alan Hansen Among Stirling Summer Honours
Date released: Tuesday 26 June 2007
University of Stirling Chancellor Dame Diana Rigg will confer five honorary degrees at the institution’s summer graduation ceremonies which will be held 27-28 June in the Gannochy National Tennis Centre.
Wednesday 27 June, 10 am ceremony
• Professor Paul Lovejoy will receive the award of Doctor of the University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the history of Africa and of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Professor Lovejoy is one of the foremost scholars of the economic history of Africa, and a leader in the development of the field of Atlantic history. He has published a substantial body of research and, for the last 12 years, has worked in collaboration with the University of Stirling on the research project “The development of an African diaspora.”
• Alan Hansen will receive the award of Doctor of the University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sport. Mr Hansen was brought up in Sauchie, but joined Liverpool F.C. in 1977 and played in arguably Liverpool’s greatest ever side, winning the European Cup 3 times and the League Championship 8 times. He also won 26 caps for the Scottish national team. He joined the BBC Sport’s team in 1992 and is now one of their most experienced and recognisable analysts of the game.
Wednesday 27 June, 2.30pm ceremony
• Dr Ian Laing will receive the award of Doctor of the University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Neonatology. Dr Laing is a consultant in the neonatal unit at the Simpson Memorial Pavilion, Edinburgh and part-time lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. He is regarded as one of the UK leading specialists in the field of neonatalogy and also works tirelessly in fundraising for NHS Scotland.
Thursday 28 June, 10am ceremony
• Nick Nairn will receive the award of Doctor of the University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Scottish cuisine and his work in promoting healthy eating. Nick Nairn was brought up in Callander, and opened his first restaurant, Braeval, near Aberfoyle in 1986. Five years later, he was awarded a coveted Michelin star. He is well-known for his performances on television cooking programmes, but more recently has concentrated on developing the Nick Nairn Cook School at Lake of Menteith, with its emphasis on fresh organic produce.
Thursday 28 June, 2.30pm ceremony
• Mr Donald Macleod will receive the award of Doctor of the University in recognition of his outstanding contribution for services to industry. Mr Macleod was born on Lewis, but graduated from the University of Stirling in 1974 with a BSc in Economics. He joined National Semiconductor and moved to California with the company in 1981. In 2001 he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, and in 2005 to President. He also serves on the Scottish Enterprise International Advisory Board, with the aim of advancing Scotland’s economic development.
Lesley Wilkinson (née Pollock)
Media Relations Manager
(01786) 467058
For further information:
| contact us > > > |
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Lesley Wilkinson University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA UK |
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| > | Tel: +44 (01786) 467058 |