Human papillomavirus (HPV) has a well-recognized aetiological role in the development of cervical cancer and other anogenital tumours. Recently, an association between colorectal cancer and HPV infection has been suggested, although this is still controversial. This study aimed at detecting and characterizing HPV infection in 57 paired biopsies from colorectal cancers and adjacent intact tissues using a degenerate PCR approach. All amplified fragments were genotyped by means of sequencing. Overall, HPV prevalence was 12.3 %. In particular, 15.8 % of tumour tissues and 8.8 % of non-cancerous tissue samples were HPV DNA-positive. Of these samples, 85.7 % were genotyped successfully, with 41.7 % of sequences identifying four genotypes of the HR (high oncogenic risk) clade Group 1; the remaining 58.3 % of HPVgenotyped specimens had an unclassified b-HPV. Examining additional cases and analysing whole genomes will help to outline the significance of these findings.

Even though under the Environmental Liability Directive environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) cannot bring actions directly against liable operators, a trend can be noticed in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal, with ENGOs avoiding addressing the competent authorities, and instead using traditional civil law mechanisms to sue liable operators before national courts. ENGOs usually claim material and/or moral damages. In addition, existing practice reveals another trend, although still embryonic, with ENGOs claiming the reparation of the damage to the environment in itself. In so doing, they face the difficulties of demonstrating a ‘direct and personal’ damage in court. This article calls for further clarification from case law and legislation as to the nature and forms of the reparation of the different types of damage that can be obtained by ENGOs through tort law and civil liability claims.

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