Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of News Item titled "2 killed in blast at illegal cracker unit in Thanjavur appearing in The Hindu dated 19.05.2025". The application is registered suo-motu on the basis of the news item titled 2 killed in blast at illegal cracker unit …
Big pharmaceutical companies in the US are rejoicing over a new Food and Drug Administration ruling that gives them an extension of 3 years on their drug patents. Consumer groups are not exactly delighted at the change because it could cost consumers billions of dollars, since companies that make cheaper …
Coriander, used only for culinary purposes till recently, can now be used as a source of industrial nylon. Scientists of the John Innes Institute in Norwich, United Kingdom, have found out that coriander seeds contain per-roselinic acid, which can be broken down to yield adipic acid, used in the production …
GENETICALLY engineered potatoes that produce their own insecticide may soon hit supermarkets in the us. The special bug killing spud has been produced by incorporating a gene from a bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis that-produces a pesticide called Bt, into the potato plant. Incorporating the gene for Bt into a potato …
Scientists at the Cuttack-based Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) have developed a high yielding variety of rice called Lunishree that requires the minimal use of fertilisers, has a high resistance to salinity and a long grain. CRRI director B Venketaswarlu says that Lunishree yields are 28-30 per cent greater than …
The human body is 80-odd per cent water, a few per cent bone and gristle -- and the rest, neurosis. beings are highly dependent on water for their bodily, agricultural, domestic and industrial needs. But the ubiquitousness of water has detracted from its worth -- it is a human failing …
"Europeans Against Superphenix", a 888-based group which has been organising protests against the Superphenix fast breeder reactor near France's border with Switzerland, has now launched a campaign, "Democracy and Nuclear", against France's nuclear policy as a whole. The campaign is aimed at democratising the decision-making processs in nuclear issues. Launched …
INDUSTRIAL pollution in Peru's Paracas reserve area is leaving beaches littered with thousands of fish rotting under clouds of flies. Under threat is the country's major national sanctuary -- Paracas, an important stopover point for many of the world's migrating birds. Contamination problems started some years ago with the ministry …
The closure of 25 polluting units in Gujarat on the orders of the High Court in early May and its subsequent fallout has caught the state government on the wrong foot. The 50-page order castigated the state government, Gujarat Pollution Control Board and the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation in carrying …
Mexico hosted an international seminar -- Urban Sustainability and Management of the Atmospheric Basin of Mexico City's Metropolitan Zone -- in May '95 to discuss ways to save its capital from the plague of devastating pollution. Sponsored by the 25-nation Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (of which Mexico is …
The traditional pottery industry in Aurangabad village in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, is not only weathering the onslaught of modernisation but thriving in spite of it. Bhola Prasad Prajapati, one of the potters who has been engaged in idol making since 19,62, says the secret of the smooth finish …
Many natural resources are consistently overused and undervalued by modern Indian industry; none more so than water. Factories and manufacturing centres throughout the country have a carte blanche approach to this invaluable commodity -- they consume it, waste it, pollute it...without worrying about the cost. This callous disconcern flourishes only …
The Women's Environmental Network had launched a campaign in spring 1993 against miserable working conditions and the use of pesticides in cocoa production. The campaign, aimed at ameliorating the health of cocoa farm workers and stopping pesticide poisoning in chocolates, scored a success when the UK government agreed to implement …
Good news for fat-conscious people. Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia have developed a fast and inexpensive technology -- the supercritical fluid technology -- for removing the full cholesterol content from meat, milk, cream and possibly egg. "By putting carbon dioxide under pressure -- so that …
A 41-page critical study by 2 independent inspec- tors says that UN development agencies have bungled science and technology (5& T) projects in Africa. Evaluating 16 projects, the inspectors argue that a vague definition of 5&T; is at the heart of the UN system's failure. The organisation's penchant for treating …
Ernesto Zedillo, the President of Mexico has thrown open the gates of the country's telecommunications industry, causing a veritable stampede. Giant inter- national carriers are rushing in to find places for themselves in the vast us $7 billion market; most of them are us players, like AT&r;, MCI,GTE, Motorola and …
European scientists have found evidence of ozone levels over the Arctic declining by about 50 per cent between the altitudes of 16 and 18 km (Nature, Vol 374, No 6522). The Second European Stratospheric Arctic and Mid-latitude Experiment also revealed that ozone levels fell by about 0.7 per cent per …
THE Andaman & Nicobar islands, with their soft green cover, crystal clear water, thick tropical forests, rich marine ecosystems and ancient tribes almost 2,000 years behind modernity, living in harmony with nature are facing crisis at this point of time in history. The pressure on natural resources from a limited …
The Pesticide Action Network-Asia and the Pacific Regional Centre (PANAP) has launched a campaign against 2 toxic pesticides, enclosulf an and triphenyltin, manufactured primarily by the German multinational, Hoechst AG. PAN-AP is calling upon governments the world over to ban the manufacture and sale of these deadly chemicals and has …
There were no cures for degenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease. A recent work in the UK offers a way out. A hormone, Interleukin-1 (IL-1), thought to benefit head injuries, is not benign. By administering a receptor antagonistic to IL-1, the neurodegeneration was reduced.
The scientist community in South Africa has heaved a giant sigh of relief. the National Accelerator Centre (NAC), the country's largest research facility and the highest energy cyclotron in the southern hemisphere, located near Cape Town, has been spared the axe, at least for the time being. Researchers have been …
