The Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers presented its report on ‘Insecticides and Pesticides – Promotion and Development including Safe Usage – Licensing Regime for Insecticides’ on December 19, 2023. Pesticides are broadly of four types: insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and bio-pesticides. Herbicides kill/control the growth of weeds, and have the …
On the CSE study on pesticides in bottled water The fact that nobody has confronted the study speaks for itself. It is a case of a non-governmental organisation doing all that is possible within its limitations to highlight an issue of public concern. We see the study as a warning …
The Centre for Science and Environment’s (cse) recent exposé has blown the lid off the industry’s tall claims on the purity of bottled water. Simultaneously, it has brought to the surface a much larger problem: contamination of groundwater by pesticides. On its part, the government seems to be in flip-flop …
February 09, 2003: bis says it will effect changes in packaged drinking water norms and follow European standards. Department of science and technology scientists confirm findings of the Centre for Science and Environment (cse). Union minister for science and technology Murli Manohar Joshi admits that bis norms are inadequate. February …
Last time I wrote about the cycle of poison, where one toxic substance is replaced with another, equally toxic, one. This cycle, I wrote, is exactly like the modern economy where business is profitable only when it comes up with profitable solutions for old problems. It is a toxic tango, …
for fisherfolk and traders in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, catching fish is child's play, thanks to harmful pesticides such as endosulfan. The fisherfolk contaminate the upper reaches of rivers such as the Teesta and the Jaldhaka with the organochlorine pesticide. This activity is carried out mainly around the Mainaguri …
death stalks the workers of the International Rice Research Institute (irri) in Philippines. Because more than four decades of experiments and intensive studies have let loose a toxic trail. This alarming revelation came recently after an independent medical survey was conducted on former employees of irri. Several instances of fatalities …
There was a time in the recently liberalised past when people didn't quite know how to refer to a new product called drinking water. They would say 'bottled water' and 'mineral water' to freely refer to one or the other kind of water, perhaps meaning the same one. It used …
Why are there pesticide residues in bottled water? This isn"t an isolated query. It condenses 3-4 lines of questioning: • What kind of water do companies use as raw material? • Companies are supposed to "treat" the raw water, clean it up. If so, then what kind of clean-up is …
Accountability in the Pesticide Industry - a report based on a forum held at the Pocantico Conference Center . June 25-28, 2002 . Paper No 5 What constitutes corporate responsibility is an oft-debated question. This truism, if you like, certainly applies to the pesticide industry (because of its environmental and …
europe will not walk the toxic trail. To improve environmental safeguards, the European Union (eu) has decided to withdraw some 320 substances used in plant protection products - including pesticides, fungicides and herbicides - from the European market by July 25, 2003. The move is part of the European Com-mission's …
the seeds of a novel programme to reduce the rice-wheat predominance in Punjab's cropping pattern have been planted. The state recently launched a multi-crop, multi-year contract farming programme. It seeks to convince Punjab's farmers - who currently follow the rice-wheat cropping pattern - to switch over to alternative crops. The …
'corporate Responsibility' has died a fancy death at the altar of public relations. A recent chemical analysis of branded packaged drinking water (commonly called bottled water) conducted by the Pollution Monitoring laboratory of Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment has brought out a horror story (see: gulp). All the major …
intensive, industrial-scale farming may be damaging one of the very natural resources that successful farming requires: bees that help in pollination. A study by scientists at the us-based Princeton University found that native bee populations plummet as agricultural intensity goes up. In farms studied in and around the Sacramento Valley …
A new seed policy is on the anvil in Brazil. Why is it controversial? Farming communities and non-governmental organisations (ngos) working closely with farmers in Brazil are worried about the set of new seed laws the government is considering. The bill (Production, Marketing and Control of Seeds), proposed about two …
The organisation Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (cats) has sued the state's department of pesticide regulation (dpr) for not following the California Environmental Quality Act. The petitioner alleges that dpr has not reviewed the impacts of pesticides widely used in the Sierra Nevada amphibian habitats. This, it contends, has led …
a recent study could have broad implications for farmers' ability to stop pests from becoming resistant to pesticides. Scientists from the us-based North Carolina State University have found that in the us, cotton pests mature feeding on corn all summer before moving towards south to munch cotton in the autumn. …
For the first time, a study has linked human exposure to pesticides with Parkinson's disease (PD). The actual cause of PD remains a mystery till date, despite intense research about the same. Over the years, the disease has become widespread in many countries, with its symptoms ranging from stiff movements …
RIGHTS ISSUE: A patent on atta chakkis (flour mills). It sure was unexpected. But it's been granted. The latest victim of the patent rights regime is the Asian traditional knowledge of producing atta. The US patent office has given patent rights to Nebraska-based ConAgra Inc for the "method for producing …
In 1957, Sri Lankan naturalist Parakrama Kirtisinghe published a monograph titled The Amphibia of Sri Lanka. In it, he recorded the presence of 35 species on the island nation. Over the next three and a half decades, with new species being discovered on a fairly regular basis, this number had …
a study conducted on a very large-scale once again proves that pesticide exposure at home increases the risk of leukaemia during childhood. This was the finding of a study conducted by researchers from us-based University of California, California department of health services and Stanford University School of Medicine, usa. During …
