In India, a country with a vast population and a diverse socio-economic fabric, healthcare remains fraught with challenges including disparities in access. These socio-economic disparities are deep, and they influence health outcomes. It is imperative to bridge these gaps amid the ongoing epidemiological, nutritional and demographic transitions that are bringing …
The pulp and paper industry is the world's second largest consumer of chlorine and the greatest source of toxic organochlorine discharges directly into the waterways. Although dozens of mills across the world are now producing high-quality, bright paper using totally chlorine-free (TCF) technology, most of the world's producers have yet …
A domestic but prolific generator of organochlorines is the homely dry-cleaning business. Over 90 per cent of alndry-'ters use chlorine-based perchloroethylene (perc) to clean clothes. Some 3 million pounds of this highly toxic chemical are annually by the industry in the US and Canada alone. Dry-cleaners are the single largest …
The US Environmental Protection Agency is likely to cut down or ban the production of chlorine and compounds containing it. However, many scientists believe that even were manufacture of chlorine-containing chemicals to be prohibited, their creation would not cease. Nature produces many of them, more than 1500, with more being …
Paper companies: 55 mills now produce totally chlorine free, high-quality bleached pulp. Province of Ontario: Pulp mills must eliminate organachlorine discharges by 2002. British Columbia: Pulp mills here must eliminate grganochlorine discharges by 2002. Sweden National: Goal to end toxic discharges from-Ifie-company pulp mills by 2000. International Joint Commission on …
In May of 1993 the British medical journal The Lancet published a paper by a Danish researcher that linked a global decline in sperm counts in healthy men over the past 50 years to accumulation of estrogenlike compounds, mainly organochlorines, in the environment. While enviros grabbed the study as another …
IN THEIR quest for better cancer detection techniques, researchers are now looking towards Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), as a faster and safer means of detecting breast cancer. MRI screens for breast tumours by probing the human body with a combination of magnetic fields and radio waves (Scientific American, Vol 272, …
DOES'vasectomy lead to prostate cancer in the long run? Conflicting findings of studies abroad led the Indian Council of Medical Research to initiate in August 1994 a comprehensive hospital based study. Due for completion in 2 years, the study is part of a World Health Organization multicountry evaluation which aims …
AGONISING biopsies to detect cancer, which bring as much trauma as the following invasive surgery, might become a nightmare of the past if a technology developed by us-based Matritech Inc receives the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The technology works on the basis of at least one …
THE Chinese may not have found a cure for treating cancer, but what they have is the patient's well-being in mind. The Western drug researchers have reached a plateau in their attempts to find a magic pellet, but the Chinese doctors have utilised their traditional knowledge of herbs to improve …
Multiple sclerosis has no cure in allopathy. How did you develop an interest and begin your ayurvedic research in this? My father was a vaidya -- the late Chandra Prakash -- who dealt with Rasayan Shastra in the field of ayurveda. In 1960 he successfully treated a patient suffering from …
On March 7, a woman from Cambridgeshire, UK, received a US $339,700 compensation in an out-of-court settlement after a surgeon failed to diagnose that she was suffering from breast cancer. In November 1994, the Cambridgeshire High Court ruled that the doctor had fallen below professional standards in failing to detect …
SCIENTISTS from the Delhi-based National Institute of Immunology (NII) have developed a drug called MUJ-7, which they claim could be a potential weapon against cancer of the colon and rectum. The new drug's modus operandi is to starve the cancer cells of the growth factors that sustain them, explains Rama …
A single injection of special proteins can make cancerous tumours regress, claim David A Cheresh and Peter C Brooks from the Scripps Research Institute, San Diego. They found that the injected proteins which are either synthetic or genetically engineered block the blood vessels that feed the tumour, causing them to …
ONE person dies of smoking every 10 seconds somewhere in the world, but the worst is yet to come, reveals a recent study. Richard Peto of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in Oxford, UK, one of the authors of the study, who was recently in Delhi to attend the 16th …
MOMS have for generations been singing the virtues of green leafy vegetables, usually to deaf ears. Now, new findings vindicate their emphasis: scientists suggest that vegetables like spinach are not only essential for balanced growth but could also guard against several types of cancers -- including cancers of the colon, …
For US armed forces it is now adieu metals, and welcome plastics. Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have designed plastic-composite nosecones for shoulder-fired missiles for the marines. Plastic composites are inexpensive and lighter than metal parts. Difficult to produce, they were ignored by manufacturers. But the researchers have developed …
Three agricultural pesticides most widely used in the US will be reviewed for potential cancer risks by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Two of the pesticides -- atrazine and cyanazine -- are used on corn crops, while the third, simazine, is used on fruits and vegetables. Ciba-Geigy and DuPont are …
"PREVENTION is better than cure" sums up the deliberations of scientists and doctors at the XVIth International Cancer Congress held in New Delhi(WHEN?) recently. This message is even more significant as scientists unveil the molecular mystery behind cancer. The XVI International Cancer Congress -- organised by Union Internationale Centre le …
Four years ago, Pilu Oberoi, a 38-year-old schoolteacher in New Delhi, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery and radiation therapy and also approached the Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute in Delhi, which gave her selected herbs to relieve her of the horrendous side-effects of radiation. "I would recommend …
Voluntary organisations and activists campaigning against the use of tobacco received a massive boost during the 16th International Cancer Congress held in Delhi last fortnight. The Congress focused on tobacco-related hazards and several papers presented at the occasion pointed out that the economic burden of tobacco-related diseases far outweigh the …
