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 …
A recent federal court ruling spelled victory for the Environment Protection Agency over the chemical industry. The US district court for the District of Columbia, upheld the agency's decision to expand the requirements for public disclosure of emissions of certain toxic chemicals. The ruling would mean that chemical companies and …
The Supreme Court of India sounded the death knell for five large chemical industries in Rajasthan in an order given on February 15. The industries were given closure orders for producing a highly toxic chemical, 'H' acid whose production has been banned in the western countries. The factories penalised for …
EVER since the first synthetic diamond process - the high-pressure catalytic - was perfected by General Electric i and De Beers in South Africa, the mat found many applications in industry. The remarkable mechanical prop diamond make it ideal for many pt Synthetic diamonds are extensively grinding and cutting tools …
EARUER this year, the German multinational, Hoechst, found itself the target of a fierce confrontation, the battle lines being drawn between the greens and the scientific community. All that the company wanted to achieve was to test *a effectiveness of a new weed killer, but instead had to face the …
The US based.Dow Chemical Co has been asked by a Reno judge to shell out US $41 million in punitive damages to a Nevada couple. According to the jury, Dow Chemical acted with .conscious disregard" of the safety of the plaintiff, Charlotte Mahhun. The couple has contended that Charlotte Mahlum's …
THE unprecedented increase in population, and the even greater increase in the scale of human activity, largely in this century, have been brought about by the growing mastery of science and its applications. This has led to prosperity, improved standards of life, and opportunities have expanded beyond anything that the …
A RED dog laps up purple water from an open gutter, while a yellow cow ambles past. Dreams in technicolour? No ... just one of the many everyday scenes in Ankleshwar, Gujarat, Asia's largest chemical industry zone and possibly one of the most polluted. The acrid smell of chemicals welcomes …
IN A significant development, Goa"s environmentalists recently tasted success when the giant multinational linked DuPont chemical project opted to move out of the state following repeated protests. In the bargain, the lesson they learnt was that all differences have to be put aside and that politicians are undependable for green …
AFTER cashmere, alpaca and mohair, the latest fad in the global textile market may well be recycled plastic clothes. Going by the recent developments in the chemical and textile industries, it may not be long before a sweater or a jacket made from recycled plastic bottles becomes an essential fashion …
Sevaral giant chemical companies reprieve at the Federal District Court in Los Angeles, when judge Andrew Hauke threw out a lawsuit Filed by the federal government. The suit had acused companies like Rhone-Poulence, Westing-hous Electrical Corporation and ICI American Holdings, of dumping pesticides into the Santa Monica Bay, Los Angel …
A DREAM blown to dust is how you could describe today"s wheezing New Bombay, the once promised green haven on the fringe of gas and smog smothered Greater Bombay. Two decades ago, the Bombay Municipal Regional Development Authority (BMRDA) had decided to develop a clean, self-sufficient residential area west of …
THE ministry of environment and forests (MEF) has catalysed sweeping amendments in the suddenly important Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules (1989). Under a new regime, safety audits have been made mandatory for 924 Maximum Accident Hazard (MAH) units and other industries producing or handling hazardous chemicals. But …
ANOTHER year, another Bhopal memorial ritual over, but the government has learnt little from one of its people's hardest lessons. And the agony of those maimed over a decade ago continues unabated. Although laws have been enacted to protect citizens from accidents like the one that occurred at Union Carbide's …
WHEN the US Consumer Product Safety Commission abruptly banned the sale of rayon chiffon ghagra-skirts from India in August this year, the Indian textile industry literally went up in flames. Indian exports of textiles to the US had been increasing happily over the past few years. But now the Americans …
A RECENT study conducted by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Bombay shows that about 60 per cent of Indian exports go to the industrialised countries. This should be cause for immediate, close attention for anyone who is familiar with the growing trends in the environmental standards of …
or the campaign child of non-governmental organisations. It has come of age as a respectable middle class concern. Perhaps it is ready to graduate into commodity fetishism? Business establishments are certainly alive to this possibility, recasting themselves in an environmentally friendly image. Educational and research institutions, too, have responded by …
EUROPE's burgeoning US $1 billion green fund industry -- half of which is in Britain -- is hard put to keep pace with the sweeping changes in industry. Chemical companies, traditionally the major polluters, are suddenly cleaning up their act and even helping others do so. On the other hand, …
Removing stains from clothes is a quid pro quo affair -- for bleaching agents to work, the clothes have to be washed in warm water, which can ruin texture and colour. But now, researchers at Unilever Laboratories in the US and Holland claim to have developed a low-temperature bleacher (Nature, …
THE environment ministry's worry about hazardous waste is shared by some big industries. According to K P Nyati of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), "The trend is to reduce waste at the beginning of the production process." This, he says, is safer and more economical than doing it later. …
In Maharashtra, the dumping of toxic waste is no less brazen. It is a common practice in Bombay to dispose of industrial sludge along with municipal garbage. Associated Industrial Consultants (AIC), an environmental industrial consultant that studied the development of an environmental management strategy for Bombay, found that "none (of …
