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. …
Manufacture, use and disposal of PCBs was restricted in many countries in the 1970s. Japan banned production in 1972, Canada in 1977. The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) restricted their use in February 1973, and phased them out by end-1988. The OECD set the maximum permissible levels of …
IN APRIL 1996, Down to Earth ('The Trouble with the Trapezium', DTE , Vol 4, No 22 ) published an article pointing out that the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute ( neeri ), Nagpur, had consistently accused small-scale industries in Agra and Ferozabad for pollution in the Taj Trapezium, but …
Counsel of despair Repeatedly, the establishment has sent out the message that information relating to public health does not have to be shared with the people if only they could talk, government agencies would have nothing to say. The set-up believes in withholding information of crucial importance to the public …
The establishment is now attacking officials who perform their duty. Government agencies have a wealth of information on the state of the environment. When this does
Getting the forest bureaucracy to cooperate is almost always a nightmare, and there's always a strong chance of bumping into people like V Bhaskar, ccof ( chief conservator of forests, wildlife), Bangalore
Of the estimated 52 million deaths worldwide in 1996, about 40 million were in the developing world, including nearly nine million in the least developed countries. Of the 40 million deaths in the developing world in 1996, more than 17 million were due to infectious and parasitic diseases. Studies indicate …
europeans will continue to be exposed to significant levels of dioxin caused by the disposal of scrap cars, despite a proposed legislation agreed by the European Union ( eu ) Commission. The Commission has dropped plans to include in the legislation the provision for phasing out of polyvinylchloride, ( pvc) …
betel chewing is a national pastime in Taiwan. But now Taiwanese officials have decided to destroy the plantations that are growing on government-protected land, shut down the roadside stalls and impose a sin tax on betel nut vendors. While the official campaign against the betel nut chewing may be something …
Radioactivity from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria, UK, has reached as far as the northern waters of Canada spreading through the Arctic Ocean. Data compiled by the Norwegian research ship CSS Henry Larsen showed that a plume of iodine-129 from the nuclear plant had penetrated beyond Siberia to …
the painful process of stitching wounds could be done away with as James Quinn and his team at the Emergency Medicine Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, have come up with an adhesive that can close up deep wounds. The researchers say that the procedure of gluing is painless, fast, …
the contraceptive pill, discovered in the 1960s, has a success rate of 99.9 per cent and is one of the most popular contraceptives. It is said to have revolutionised women's lifestyles. But it is now known that the pill can cause problems such as weight gain, headaches, and disturbance in …
one of the most problematic substances in the human body is cholesterol. The steep rise in the number of people with heart ailments has made a villain of this key chemical, necessary for several bodily functions such as synthesis of bile acids and hormones. Cholesterol is both made within the …
Fruits stay fresh for longer durations in tin cans compared to plastic packaging in hot conditions, says William Porter, food chemist at the Army Soldier Systems Command in Natick, Massachusetts, USA. This was discovered in 1991 during the Gulf War, when the caterers had problems with fruit turning brown and …
Reemergence of infectious diseases like tuberculosis (TB) is among the major health hazards resulting from increasing globalisation, says a report published by the Institute of Medicine, the medical wing of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. The rapid rise in international travel and global trade also threatens to increase import …
Although free from civil war and out of the international spotlight at present, El Salvador is facing a problem that threatens more permanent damage than the war - ecological devastation. The once lush nation is turning into a desert, throttled by a severe water shortage and rising incidences of respiratory …
transplantation of organs from humans has become a common medical procedure. But there are some serious issues involved in the practice. Some of these are primarily ethical, concerning the procedures in transplanting organs between humans. The numbers of patients in urgent need of organ transplants is constantly rising. Paucity of …
a deafness gene has been discovered by British scientists investigating skin disease. The faulty gene is thought to be behind the only inherited form of deafness that is not also linked to other genetic problems. Researchers from St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, …
thanks to a new drug formulation, the treatment of kala azar ( leishmaniasis ) and some fungal infections may become quicker, safer and more effective. This drug will be made for the first time by an Indian company that hopes to break us monopoly over the product. Kala azar is …
with a view to curbing the spread of Russian nuclear technology to other countries, the us department of energy will be funding the development of a new nuclear reactor design at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow. The us will provide a new technology that makes use of radioactive thorium instead …
