Demos Ruffle Feathers; Herbicide Found In Drinking Water; Novartis Reduces Workforce

News For 26 April 2022

Basel trade associations IG Kleinbasel, StadtConceptBasel and the Basel Landlords Association have lodged a written complaint with the city government that the number of authorized demonstrations, especially on Saturdays, is hurting their constituents' interests.  The group believes prospective customers of the trade group are reconsidering their shopping plans in the city center because of the traffic snarls, and because they don't want to be bothered by demonstrators.  The trade group has called for the government to restrict demonstrations to limited marching paths, outside of peak Saturday shopping hours, or perhaps even to a stationary demonstration zone outside the central shopping district.

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The herbicide Trifluoroacetate (TFA) has been found to be widespread in drinking water in a recent report by the Swiss news outlet SRF.  TFA is commonly used in pesticides, medicines and refrigerants in addition to being a precursor chemical to non-stick cookware.  Samples from 10 taps throughout Switzerland revealed that all of them have concentrations of the chemical between 0.08 and 1.50 micrograms per liter.  Currently, the Swiss government has no legal limits on the concentration levels found in water, and the samples do not pose a threat to human health according to experts.  They warn however, that over time, these concentration levels only tend to rise.

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Novartis announced earlier this month that it will begin restructuring its operations in an effort to reduce costs.  At the core of the effort is the consolidation of the Pharmaceutical and Oncology units, where sales, human resources and finance operations will be merged and headcounts reduced.  Of the 105,000 people that Novartis employs worldwide, 11,600 work in Switzerland.  According to Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan, the total, global headcount reduction will be in the "single thousands".