Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
ayurvedic drugs are once again under a cloud of controversy, this time for containing high amounts of heavy metals. A recent scientific paper suggests that 20 per cent of Ayurvedic medicines available in the us contain heavy metals like arsenic, lead and mercury beyond the limits permitted in the country. …
Talk about artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or neotame and Stevia rebaudiana is bound to be mentioned. Considering people in South America have been using this herb as an alternative to sugar, the question is: Shouldn't this be the preferred choice for those wishing to lay off sugar? Two questions …
usa's George Bush-administration has once again proved that (its) appearances are deceptive. It recently claimed that combating air pollution will be its top priority and it will begin 2005 with "an aggressive push' in the us Congress to build support for its plan. But the lofty pronouncement has a rider, …
As Asia prepares to rebuild itself after the killer wave, it will take a lot more than just political bickering to prevent a similar situation from recurring The Tsunami that has caused havoc across several South Asian countries has taken a human toll of more than 125,000, a figure that …
The authors examined the association between pesticide use and breast cancer incidence among farmers’ wives in a large prospective cohort study in Iowa and North Carolina. Participants were 30,454 women with no history of breast cancer prior to cohort enrollment in 1993–1997. Information on pesticide use and other information was …
Coalfires, both underground and on the surface, are a serious problem in most major coal-producing countries of the Asia-Pacific region including China, India and Indonesia. Australia also experiences similar problems but on a somewhat smaller scale. Coal fires produce large quantities of CO2 along with several other noxious gases such …
Industry tests using human beings would now be accepted by the us Environmental Protection Agency (epa) in fixing standards for chemicals in food and water. The agency is about to finish formulating a plan to take a "case-by-case approach' in this matter. "It says we're going to look at each …
Unique coast guard: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) is working for the formation of a monitoring and liaison committee to improve the dismal environmental condition in the islands off the Karachi coast and check the unhindered discharge of effluents into the sea. SEPA director general Shafiq Khuso says the …
poisonous exemption: The US and other industrialised countries have been granted further exemption for using methyl bromide as a pesticide and soil fumigant. A recent meeting of the parties to the Montreal Protocol, a global treaty to phase out ozone-depleting substances, decided to give a fresh exemption of over 2,600 …
Rotenone, an organic pesticide made from the extracts of tropical plants, can cause Parkinson's disease among human beings, shows a recent study. The finding is alarming, as organic chemicals like rotenone are being extensively promoted in India and elsewhere to combat the adverse effects of conventional pesticides. J Timothy Greenamyre …
the strongest acid: The world's strongest acid, at least a million times more potent than concentrated sulphuric acid, has been made in a lab in California. It is also one of the least corrosive. Called carborane acid, is the first
the World Trade Organization (wto) set up a special subcommittee on cotton on November 19, 2004, to address the issues concerning cotton trade "ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically'. The step was a compromise for the four West African nations, which had asked for a prompt end to billions of dollars of …
green groups in the us are livid at the removal of tertiary butyl acetate (tbac) from the list of ground level ozone-forming volatile organic compounds (vocs ) by the us Environmental Protection Agency (epa). They say the epa's move on November 18, 2004, would weaken the country's Clean Air Act. …
agricultural workers are not only exposed to pesticides via inhalation, but also through the skin. Researchers of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, usa, and the us Environmental Protection Agency (epa) have found that dermal exposure to chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide, contributes substantially to workers' total exposure. The …
giving Africa's hiv-positive children a cheap antibiotic could nearly halve the mortality induced by aids, as per research published in The Lancet. Dianna Gibb and her colleagues from the Medical Research Council, Zambia, studied 541 children with aids- related infections; these children were living in areas where resistance to common …
during a recent study, researchers from the us -based University of Illinois have found that adding a commonly found mineral in water contaminated by arsenic is a quick and cost-effective way to remove the toxic chemical. Water tainted by arsenic threatens the health of millions of people, mainly in Bangladesh …
In a historic verdict, voters of the Colorado state in the us have approved the mandatory use of a certain percentage of renewable energy by electricity utilities. It is the first time in the country's history that people voted directly for such a standard. They approved the Amendment 37 in …
