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. …
vaccination against chickenpox has been popular in the us for nearly a decade. But outbreaks of the illness among children already immunised have raised concerns about the effectiveness of the vaccine. Now a new study intensifies the debate. Researchers from the us-based Yale Medical School report that the effectiveness of …
• In an exclusive, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Washington Bureau has reported that us' top Medicare cost analyst has confirmed that his former boss ordered him to withhold, from lawmakers, unfavourable cost estimates about the Medicare prescription-drug bill. He said the estimates exceeded what the us Congress seemed willing to accept …
A coalition of pre-eminent scientists and Nobel laureates has accused the Bush administration of suppressing and distorting scientific analysis and taking actions that have undermined the quality of scientific advisory panels and policies. In a 37-page report, Scientific Integrity in Policymaking, the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists cites several cases …
a recent us report may have wide-ranging impacts on international pesticide research and human health because it has given a clean chit to human testing of pesticides in the country. Intentional human dosing studies for epa regulatory purposes: scientific and ethical issues was drafted by the us National Academy of …
us citizens need beneficial dietary guidance, indicates a 30-year-long study of the us Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. As per the research, calorie intake of the nation has increased manifolds
The us government has silently shelved a proposal to ban fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (mtbe) that has been contaminating drinking water in many communities. Critics say the decision is a quid pro quo favouring the chemical industry lobby, which donated over us $1 million to the Republican Party. …
The current influenza epidemic in the us, the avian flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome (sars) in Southeast Asia are infectious diseases that have rapidly evolved, taking national and global health systems by surprise. Such infections emerge in one corner of the globe and hitchhike into new areas, often causing …
The us is targeting shrimp imports, with its commerce department filing an anti-dumping petition against six countries including India. As a counter-measure, the Seafood Exporters Association of India (seai) is collecting statistics and mobilising funds to challenge the litigation in us courts. The us has asked the International Trade Commission …
overriding powers: The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will now have the authority to overrule state government decisions on what would be the
Bird Flu Outbreak Avian influenza (ai) is spiralling out of control in Asia. So also is the spin being put to the disease. There was the spectacle of Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his entire cabinet feasting on a smorgasbord of chicken to ease public concern over the ai …
"I am not sure we can survive the European Union(eu),' says Andrzej Konkol, an organic farmer in Kashubia, Northern Poland. His daughter translates while her young twin brothers amble about the yard in the afternoon sun. Grinning broadly, they half lead, half follow the gangling calf they'd watched being born …
A curious search for blankets is currently taking place in the plains around the Great Lakes in North America. These are not ordinary blankets. They are actually bison skins that were smeared with body fluid tainted with smallpox and used, two hundred years ago, to obliterate American Indians. Post 9/11, …
a recent study proffers yet another rationale for not consuming chicken. As per its findings, the foodstuff is not only laced with antibiotics, but is also full of carcinogenic arsenic. The arsenic contamination is higher than what was previously estimated
genetically modified (gm) insects are being developed at a fast pace for a variety of purposes, but the us government fails to develop a regulatory framework to review the safety of releasing the transgenic beings into the environment. This concern has been raised in a report of the Pew Initiative …
• In the name of development and progress, The Everglades, the home of the Miccosukee India tribe of North America, has turned into a wasteland. A pump owned by The South Florida Water Management District is dumping as much as 16 litres a minute of pollutants from farms and industries …
China and the us will be striving for an environment-friendly 2008 Olympics. Chinese science and technology minister Xu Guanhau and us energy secretary Spencer Abraham signed the Beijing Olympic protocol, which commits us experts to helping the host country in cleaning up the city. Over 1,000 electric buses with stylistic …
redesigning of underground fuel tanks to stop the leakage of mtbe (methyl tertiary butyl ether) is a better way to avoid groundwater contamination than replacing the carcinogenic additive with alternatives, as per a research. The study shows that mtbe alternatives pose as much of a threat as their predecessor. mtbe …
Are humans alone in the Milky Way galaxy? To date, no one has an answer to the question, but US astronomers have found that Earth-like planets with enough water to support life could be fairly common. They ran 44 computer simulations of the planet formation process, and in each simulation …
• sun's twin: Astronomers from the US-based Villanova University have found a Sun-like star. They have termed it as 18 Scorpii. It is located in the constellation Scorpio, which is 46 light years from Earth. In cosmic terms, 46 light years is considered quite close. Sun and 18 Scorpii have …
