Eesti in brief - 2010-07-14

On August 2 and 3, Riigikogu will start amending the draft law on curbing monopolies’ price policies that had already been adopted, but sent back by the president, who refused to proclaim the law, reports Postimees Online. Chairman of the Riigikogu Reform Party faction Peep Aru said “Together with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Competition Board, the Riigikogu Committee on Economic Affairs has started working hard on the proposal.” President Toomas Hendrik Ilves decided not to sign the law on establishing pricing limitations on monopolies, adopted by Riigikogu on June 17. In his view, the law is not in compliance with the Constitution and will not guarantee the protection of consumers to the extent required in the Constitution.

The seasonal outbreaks of blue-green algae in the Baltic Sea emit a nerve poison which can have a link to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease, Swedish researchers claim, reports the Swedish paper The Local. According to Sara Jonasson, one of the research team at Stockholm University, the researchers lack the necessary funding to forward the analysis of human cells. The Swedish researchers were informed by U.S. colleague Paul Cox that the blue-green algae can generate BMAA - a poison linked to the high incidence of these three diseases among the residents of Guam in the south Pacific. The Swedish team has since tested and found traces of BMAA in the Baltic algae.