Chemicals provide important benefits to society and play a vital role in the global economy, but they also carry risks for the environment and human health, with greater risks to vulnerable social groups. Chemicals can contaminate soil, air and water and can damage biodiversity, and human exposure to chemicals is …
The National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) is proposing a total ban on the production, importation and exportation of products containing mercury, says Dr Gerald Sawula, the NEMA Deputy Executive Director. The move will protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury which is currently being used …
Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Toxics Link Vs. Union of India & Others dated 01/12/2015 regarding environment friendly disposal of CFL and recovery of mercury.
Illegal levels of arsenic and mercury polluted the Rio Doce river in the days after a dam burst at an iron ore mine in early November in Brazil's worst-ever environmental disaster, according to tests by a state water agency. The Institute for Water Management in Minas Gerais (IGAM), found arsenic …
Soon, thousands of schoolchildren in the State will walk onto their campus carrying a bag filled with discarded plastic bottles and ditched electronic devices. In a unique initiative to weed out the menace of e-waste and plastic, the government is in the final stages of clearing a unique proposal involving …
‘Mercury in the Mist,’ a documentary on plight of people affected by alleged mercury contamination by Hindustan Uniliver Clinical Thermometer factory in Kodaikanal, was screened by Sevvakam, a youth forum, which organises monthly documentary screenings, in the city on Sunday. The documentary was directed by R.P. Amudhan. The screening was …
After sending fire crackers commonly used in Diwali and often handled by children to a private laboratory, NGO Awaaz Foundation has written to the chief minister and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to withdraw these crackers from the market. Reason: The test results indicated the presence of …
The Ministry of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation (MESTI) has begun the process required to ratify and rapidly implement the Minamata Convention on mercury to protect human life and the environment against mercury poisoning. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is under the Ministry, has therefore led a national stakeholder’s …
The Tribunal had constituted a core committee to monitor the potential hazards of industrial development in Singrauli area and five sub-committees for quantification of industrial pollution and impact assessment of water, air, soil and health in and around Singrauli. The committee informed the bench that ground water in the villages …
CHENNAI: Could the move by Hindustan Unilever to bring down mercury level in the factory site to 20mg/kg pose no threat to to the ecologically sensitive watershed in Kodaikanal? The Local Area environment Committee says ‘No’ by rejecting the proposal mooted by Hindustan Unilever during a closed door meeting called …
The tanneries in Kasur in Pakistan, where the world-famous handmade “Kasuri jutti” is made, is spreading pollution across the border in Punjab. The tanneries are dumping tonnes of hazardous chemicals into a Sutlej tributary that flows into India. This is causing serious health problems for the residents of villages in …
Even minuscule increases in the amount of tiny chemical particles -- by 10 micrograms per cubic metre of air, for example -- lead to roughly a 10 percent increase in risk of death due to heart disease, says a study. "Our data add to a growing body of evidence that …
People who take unregulated complementary medicines are at a higher risk of being contaminated by heavy metals, a medical scientist has warned. Research from the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE) reveals that certain complementary medicines, especially Ayurvedic treatments – an Indian traditional …
Mercury pollution in California may be coming from a surprising source: elephant seals. Scientists have found that molting elephant seals actually shed considerable amounts of mercury into coastal waters. Mercury is a major problem in the marine environment. The most toxic form of it, methyl mercury, is readily absorbed and …
Atmosphere, earth and water compose the environment. The presence of heavy metals in the environment has grown because of their large employment in some industrial and agricultural activities. Although these metals are terrestrial products, they flow into the sea through effluents and sewage or are directly discharged from industries placed …
The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has started to regulate cosmetics laced with heavy metals after the Drug Technical advisory Board (DTAB), country’s apex body on drugs, proposed to restrict the presence of mercury in cosmetics. The use of mercury was earlier prohibited in cosmetics. In the amendments proposed …
Researchers say mercury and other chemicals that were found in Lake Powell have moved downstream and are now being found in fish and aquatic plants in the Grand Canyon. The Arizona Daily Sun reports (http://bit.ly/1JjPj1D) no consumption advisories have been issued for fish in the study area that was researched …
China presently contributes the largest amount of anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emission into the atmosphere in the world. Over the past decade, numerous studies have been conducted to characterize the concentration and forms of atmospheric Hg in China, which provide insights into the spatial and temporal distributions of atmospheric Hg through …
Although the Grand Canyon segment of the Colorado River features one of the most remote ecosystems in the United States, it is not immune to exposure from toxic chemicals such as mercury according to newly published research in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The study, led by the U.S. Geological Survey, …
We perform global-scale inverse modeling to constrain present-day atmospheric mercury emissions and relevant physiochemical parameters in the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model. We use Bayesian inversion methods combining simulations with GEOS-Chem and groundbased Hg0 observations from regional monitoring networks and individual sites in recent years. Original Source
CHENNAI: After the activists, it is now the turn of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to put pressure on Unilever for the pollution caused by its now-shut thermometer factory in Kodaikanal. Following the decision taken during its recent meeting on May 28, the Scientific Experts Committee (SEC) formed …
