The National Biodiversity Authority has released a new set of rules to manage sharing of benefits generated through the use of biological resources. The Biological Diversity (Access to biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulation 2025 was approved by the Central government and …
baby food manufacturers have been found guilty of violating international codes which seek to safeguard infants' health. A study released recently by the Interagency Group on Breastfeeding Monitoring, a coalition of 27 health and development groups in the uk, found that many companies regularly breach domestic and international regulations on …
The Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd), which came into force in December 1993, is a global treaty aimed at protecting the planet's genetic resources of plants and animals. The 160 member nations of the CBD meet once every year to take stock of the work done towards achieving the goals …
rare species of plants in China came under legal protection recently. The wild plants protection regulations, which had been ratified by the country in September 1996, took effect from January 1 this year. Calestous Juma, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said that this move was an important …
The nationwide livestock development project in Nepal which is in its third phase, is slated to receive a boost as the Asian Development Bank recently agreed to provide a loan assisstance from its special funds to the Government. The overall aim of the project
A recent study of yellow baboons suggests that environmental stress leads to infertility in them. In a season when food is scarce, conception rates are likely to halve. Scientists could correlate the environmental stress to low levels of progesterone in these primates. The study strongly suggests that reducing stress levels …
The Sri Lankan environment ministry has issued orders that would ban the manufacture of refrigerators, freezers and air-conditioners using chloroflurocarbons (CFC) after the year 2000. The move aimed at conserving the ozone layer, requires manufacturers to install equipment which will use alternates to CFCs. Those who own gadgets with CFC …
The number of institutions trying to integrate environmental concerns with economics is still small in India, especially given the size of the country and the diversity of its environmental problems and challenges, but a small beginning has already been made. This volume presents the proceedings of the national environment and …
KERALA is a land of contradictions. While a mean rainfall of 300 cm lashes the state every year shortage of drinking water remains a perennial cause for heartache. The state government admits that the problem has become a permanent fixture since 1983 in the list of ills ailing the state. …
IRATE South Africans are protesting the European Union (EU) ban on their ostrich meat and live birds following an outbreak of Congo fever. The EU ban came into effect after an abattoir worker died recently and 16 others were infected with the fever in Oudtshoorn, a town close to South …
A CONTROVERSY is raging between the ministry of environment and forests (MEF) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, over the issue of bio- patents. While sources within the MEE believe that the WII has sold off India's bio-diversity to the US, officials at the institute vehemently deny the …
FRANK McCormick and his team from Onyx Pharmaceuticals, a California-based biotech firm, have thought of a crafty way to beat cancer. Mc- Cormick's logic is that if law-abiding cells could go astray under the influence of cancer, the destructive talents of a mutant virus that is a cell destroyer could …
It was in 1993 that 30,000 Ecuadorian Indians and farmers filed a petition against Texaco, the multinational oil giant, for having denigrated their homeland by way of 17 million gallons of spilled oil, dumping of 20 billion gallons of toxic production water and the creation of over 600 open, unlined, …
T N Khoshoo, a distinguished fellow at the Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi, has recently been awarded the Sasakawa Award instituted by the United Nations Environment Programme, for his contribution to environmental conservation. His initial research interest concerned the field of cytogenetics. But thereafter, it has shifted to the …
WITH smog levels rising to higher than normal levels, traffic authorities banned cars off the roads of the Czech capital, Prague. Only vital traffic like taxis, buses and motorists who live in central Prague are being allowed to ply. The emergency was declared after levels of nitrogen oxides reached nearly …
According to a report from the US National Academy of Sciences, stockpiles of chemical weapons could be neutralised by bacteria. Under Richard Magee of the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, the US army could dispose of tonnes of mustard gas by first mixing it with water at a …
In April, this year, a group of researchers set out for the Itombwe forest in eastern Zaire, an area known for its rare and fragile biodiversity. The team, whose trip was funded by New York's Bronx zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society, was treated to a brief encounter with the Congo bay …
Drugs that combat growth of cancer by blocking blood supply lines for tumours are being tried for the first time on humans. These new compounds disrupt the chemical signals exclusive to tumours and thus will have fewer side effects. All the five new molecules discovered by Sugen, a California-based company, …
