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. …
THE US government is considering charging Imclone Drugs Inc, a biotechnology firm for deluding investors about the status of their cancer drug, Erbitux. Company officials revealed that they have received a 'wells notice' from the Securities and Exchange Commission. This notice is issued when the staff of the panel is …
Pollute and pay. Angola has communicated this to all business establishments operating in the country. In a major haul-up, the African nation has fined us oil major ChevronTexaco Corporation us $2 million for polluting beaches and damaging fishing prospects in the Cabinda region. Angola has notified the company about the …
Genetically modified pink bollworms (Pectinophora gossypiella) have been released recently for the first time in a secret location in the cotton fields of Arizona. The bollworms have been modified by US scientists to be sterile so that they can mate with natural bollworms, which will not produce any offspring. Although …
The US Supreme Court's recent decision to disallow close imitations of patented inventions has given back the holders of valuable patents their lost smile. Earlier, in 2000, a federal court had limited the 'doctrine of equivalents', which entailed that a patent on blue nails could be extended to cover red …
Two years ago, a report in the New England Journal of Medicine created a flutter in medical circles. It said that at least 54 deaths and about 1,000 reports of complications have been linked to ephedra, a plant product that is a source of ephedrine alkaloids. An amphetamine-like compound, ephedra …
There were quite a few adherents to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture at the World Food Summit. The treaty defines plant genetic resources as any genetic material of plant origin of actual or potential value for food and agriculture. India ratified the pact along …
In a swift move, China has clamped down on toxic electronic waste exports from the US. Environmental groups Basel Action Network (Ban) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition of the US and Delhi-based Toxics Link had earlier this year jointly brought out a report stating that as much as 80 per …
the Finnish parliament's go-ahead to the country's fifth nuclear plant has begun to take its toll, with environment minister Satu Hassi's putting in her papers. The decision to build Finland's fifth nuclear reactor comes after a two-decade break. The first four plants were established in the 1970s. The proposal for …
the Native American tribe of Sokaogon Chippewa in the us' Wisconsin state is a happy lot today. Now, its members can have safe water for themselves and their fields. Thanks to the us Supreme Court, the community has secured the right to lay down its own water quality standards. Significantly, …
after months of speculation, the us Food and Drug Administration (fda) has finally decided to retain its rule which makes it mandatory for all drug makers to conduct paediatric trials. The agency came under fire from public health groups and lawmakers recently when it announced plans to suspend the paediatric …
In a glaring case of carelessness sparking a calamity, campfires turned into billowing blazes that spread to five Colorado counties and scorched more than 25 hectares across the state. The wildfires raged with such intensity that these counties had to be completely sealed off. The inferno destroyed 3,700 homes and …
A US judge rejected South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges' legal challenge to the Energy Department's plans to ship 34 metric tonnes of surplus, weapons grade plutonium for conversion to fuel in the state. Hodges had argued that the department of energy was required to complete a new environmental impact report. …
oil spills could mean far worse for the environment than they have been blamed for till date, shows a recent study conducted in the Galapagos Islands located off the coast of Ecuador. In January 2001 the tanker Jessica, belonging to Petrocomercial, an arm of the Ecuadorian state oil company, had …
the World Food Summit, convened by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (fao) and held in Rome from June 10-13, failed to secure an enhanced commitment to its goal of reducing the number of hungry people from 800 million to 400 million by 2015. What it could just do was to …
after 15 years of observation, a team of astronomers has found a planetary system that reminds us of our home solar system. Geoffrey Marcy, astronomy professor at Berkeley-based University of California, and astronomer Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington dc, usa, have recently discovered a Jupiter-like planet orbiting …
When the Supreme Court had ordered the Delhi government to run its buses on cng (compressed natural gas), the directive was sought to be circumvented on the pretext that natural gas technology was not proven and options available were too few. The wide variety of new generation alternative fuel vehicles …
It is for the first time that the Bush administration has linked an increase in global warming to human activities in the us. The Climate Action Report 2002 of the us government says, "Greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing global mean surface …
As a preventive measure, Westchester county near Manhattan in the US will hand out anti-radiation tablets to people living near the Indian Point nuclear power plant. The pills (potassium iodide) are supposed to protect the residents from possible radiation exposure, if an emergency arises. There are growing concerns about Indian …
