Brussels, 04/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament welcomes the French government's announcement that three shale gas exploration permits in the south of France have been rescinded It sees this as an “encouraging step” in the fight to prevent the exploitation of this non-conventional fossil fuel. It goes on to point out, however, that many other extraction or exploration permits still exist in France and in the rest of Europe - Germany, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Ireland Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom (Scotland) and Sweden. On the strength of a study on the “inevitable” impact that shale gas and oil extraction would have on the environment, climate and human health, presented on Tuesday 4 October at the environment committee, French ecologists José Bové, Sandrine Bélier and Michèle Rivasi are pressing for the EU regulation to be reviewed in order to bring such risks under control, correct any failings with regard to mining law, and ban the chemical products used in the process of hydraulic fracturing. (EH/transl.jl)