Affidavit filed by the 5th applicant pursuant to the direction of the National Green Tribunal dated 13/03/2023 in Original Application No. 442/2013. A number of application's were filed by residents of Brahmapuram, Ernakulam district right from 2012 for the closing down of Brahmapuram waste disposal facility. In addition, they requested …
In response to calls for more direct measurements of pesticide residues in foods consumed by children, and to compare direct measures of pesticide residues in foods representing actual consumption with those reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program, Lu et al. measured pesticide residues in 239 24-hr …
The incidence of cutaneous melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, tripled over the last 30 years in the United States. The reasons for this increase are not clear, although sun sensitivity and ultraviolet radiation are known risk factors. Farmers have been found to have an excess risk of …
California sea lions have a large body burden of organochlorine pesticides, and over the last decade they have also been subject to domoic acid poisoning. Domoic acid poisoning, previously recognized in adult animals, is now viewed as a major cause of prenatal mortality. The appearance of a chronic juvenile domoic …
Persistent pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), affect endocrine function. Human exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are similar in structure to PCBs, has increased recently, but health effects have not been well studied. Our goal in this study was to determine whether PBDE body burdens are related to …
Vegetables (Beta vulgaris L., Abelmoschus esculentus L. and Brassica oleracea L.) from the production and market sites of India were tested for Cu, Cd, Zn and Pb. At market sites, the mean concentration of Cu in cauliflower, and of Zn and Cd in both palak and cauliflower had exceeded the …
Vegetable farming is an important income generating activity in parts of rural Nepal. However, vegetable farming is pesticide intensive and pesticide exposure is beginning to emerge as a problem. A SANDEE study examines the impacts of pesticide use on vegetable farmers in the mid-hills area of Nepal, some 40km east …
HERBICIDES atrazine and metolachlor, commonly used to remove weeds and pests from crop fields were until now labelled nonvolatile. It was thought that most environmental risk from these pesticides comes from surface runoff—water from rain, snowmelt and other sources that flows over the land surface. But the US Department of …
The Union environment ministry has proposed a five member expert committee to study the ill-effects of endosulfan. Union minister of state for environment, Jairam Ramesh, announced the panel after meeting Kerala forest minister Benoy Viswam on November 1. Kerala had pressed the Centre to endorse a global ban on the …
It is called the mango city. But of late, Muthalamada panchayat in Kerala’s Palakkad district has gained notoriety for excessive use of endosulfan in its mango orchards. Its effect is showing on people living there. When seven-year-old Sharanya was born, her parents Rukmini and Chandran were relieved the baby was …
TOY makers use phthalates to make plastic toys supple and chewy. But the chemical also happens to be very toxic and its use in the Indian toy industry remains unregulated. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has finally drafted standards for phthalates in toys and childcare products so that their …
In May when Kerala banned seven highly toxic insecticides so that it switches to safer chemicals, it did not fare better. It ended up replacing them with six others, banned or severely restricted in most parts of the world. For instance, it replaced carbofuran, a pesticide that affects the nervous …
AFTER imposing a ban on endosulfan, the Supreme Court is now examining the possibility of allowing export of the pesticide. On August 5, the court-appointed joint committee was given a three-week deadline to submit an interim report on the possibility of exporting and disposing of the endosulfan stocks with the …
Why is the pharmaceutical industry taking such a keen interest in the Pesticides Management Bill, 2008, or PMB, which would appear to be as far removed from drugs as chalk from cheese? The Bill, pending in Parliament since 2008, is all set to be debated in the current session with …
THE Supreme Court has turned down the request of pesticide manufacturers to allow them to export the pesticide stocks in India. The court had banned the sale, manufacture, use and export of the pesticide on May 13 on a petition by the youth wing of the CPI(M), the Democratic Youth …
A bill to be tabled in Parliament is set to re-ignite an old tussle between the Centre and states. The Pesticides Management Bill of 2008, which will be heard in the Monsoon Session, aims to replace grand old Insecticides Act of 1968. It will regulate a wider range of chemicals, …
CARDAMOM Planters Marketing Co-operative Society in Kerala has appealed to the high court to suspend the ban on the use of extremely toxic and highly toxic pesticides. They say the ban will affect the cardamom crop this season. To promote organic farming in Kerala, the state agriculture department had ordered …
IN WHAT could prove to be a breakthrough in containing environmental impacts of white asbestos globally, India has agreed to label the mineral hazardous under the UN’s Rotterdam Convention. This is a historic shift in stance, as India has always claimed there was not sufficient data on the health risks …
HealthDirty truth If you stop your children from eating mud, read this. Craving for earth—geophagy—can be one of the natural ways to protect stomach against pathogens. After studying 480 reports and analysing theories that geophagy is driven by hunger and for nutrients in the soil like iron, zinc or calcium …
AS MANY as 20 states have opposed a ban on endosulfan. At a meeting convened by the agriculture commissioner’s office on June 3, the states, except Kerala, said they were not aware of health problems caused by the pesticide. These include Karnataka, which has banned the pesticide, and Madhya Pradesh, …
