Order of the National Green Tribunal (Central Zone Bench, Bhopal) in the matter of Kamal Tiwari Vs Union of India & Others dated 27/05/2025. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden, Rajasthan stated that a high level meeting to review the progress on the demarcation of Nahargarh …
Patents on life forms are unethical, contrary to the principles and cultural norms of various societies, and should be prohibited. This was the crux of the argument advanced by a group of African countries at the trips (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, from June …
Even as negotiations on the relaxation of international patent protection rules enshrined in the World Trade Organization (wto) remain deadlocked, the eu has adopted a law that will provide 76 developing countries access to cheaper drugs. The affordable medicines will help the beneficiary nations, including India, to combat hiv/aids, malaria …
Monsanto Corporation has been granted exclusive monopoly over all genetically transformed soyabean varieties. The Munich-based European Patent Office (epo) upheld a patent held by Monsanto on transgenic research on soyabean. The patent covers the process that describes genetic transformation of plants and soyabean seeds as well as tissues obtained by …
The eu's attempt to reform its Common Agricultural Policy (cap) has come a cropper. France blocked the latest compromise proposal taken up at the union's Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting on June 18 in Luxembourg. On June 20, French President Jacques Chirac is reported to have said at the eu …
At its recently concluded third session in Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations Forum on Forests (unff) took a step towards the creation of a legally binding instrument. An ad hoc expert group was established to consider the parameters of a mandate for developing the legal framework on all types of …
Baby bottles are often made of polycarbonate plastic. Impurities remaining in the bottle from the monomer bisphenol A can migrate from the plastic bottles into baby food, thereby causing a health concern. Previous migration testing of new baby bottles showed only trace migration levels of the substance. In the present …
Ireland and Spain have rejected a deal aimed at settling a dispute between the two nations over fishing rights in Irish waters. While Ireland contends its fishing area is a special conservation zone created in 1985 (when Spain and Portugal joined the eu) to protect depleting fishing stocks, Spain insists …
come 2004, 90 per cent of landfills will be shut down in the uk. The step is being taken in the wake of a recent eu directive that has clamped down on landfills in all its member states. "It stipulates that all landfills are to be classified as inert, hazardous …
The European Commission is considering strengthening the present chemical safety rules to ensure the removal of hazardous products. Under the proposal, companies would have to publicly state the properties of the chemicals used in their manufactured merchandise. Special authorisations would be required for elements that are known to cause grave …
The EU seems to be slipping in its bid to meet the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets it has set for itself. The union's 2008-2012 goal is to reduce emission of the six main GHGs by eight per cent on 1990 levels. But the European Environment Agency's latest GHG inventory …
post-Iraq, the us is gearing up for another fight. This time, it is over the export of genetically modified (gm) food to the eu. The us is moving the World Trade Organization (wto), along with Argentina, Canada and Egypt against the eu's "five-year moratorium' on allowing the sale of gm …
why should four per cent of the agricultural workforce (mostly affluent) in high-income countries reap the rich harvest of an international trade regime, when 70 per cent farmers (predominantly indigent) in developing countries get a raw deal under the same pact? This is a question member nations will be hard …
Iceland has moved one step closer to its goal of using only renewable sources of energy by the year 2030. It recently inaugurated the world's first hydrogen fuel station in the capital city of Reykjavik. "This is a major step toward a hydrogen society,' said Iceland's commerce and industry minister, …
If the battle over failed farm trade talks in the World Trade Organisation (wto) wasn't enough, Brussels and Canberra look likely to clash again as eu members begin discussions on whether to allow imports of Australian wine treated with oak chips. Oak chips accelerate the process of flavouring the wine, …
The European Commission (EC) has hauled eight member nations to court for failing to enforce a law which mandates that automobile manufacturers bear the costs of recycling used cars. The UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Finland and Luxembourg were sued by EC Commissioner Margot Wallstroem in the European Court …
RESOURCES AND RIGHTS: Even as the debate over access and benefit sharing of genetic resources rages on in the world, plans for a legally binding protocol have begun to take shape in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). A recent meet of the Conference of Parties to the CBD at …
by may 2003, the European Council was supposed to have reached a consensus on a directive that seeks to regulate the supply of herbal products in the European Union (eu) market. Once implemented this
I met Jacques Chirac this fortnight. Just before he made the call to George Bush and just before he left to attend the European Union summit in Athens, the French president met some 20 of us in his presidential palace for discussions on what would be the future of this …
function opencover(){ var popurl="html/20030430_cover.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=450,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } America’s administrators have seriously slipped up. Today us foreign policy stands exposed in all its Neanderthal crudity. This comes as no surprise to those observing the superpower in the arena of global environmental negotiations although the mainstream media has done a remarkably good job …
