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. …
a recent study has proved that exposure to pesticides such as ddt (dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane) can increase child mortality ( Lancet , Vol 358, July 2001, pp 110-114). Mathew P Longnecker of the Epidemiology branch of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, usa and his colleagues used the serum samples …
Keeping the houses cleaner could prevent about 40 per cent of asthmatic cases in children below the age of six. A recent study, conducted in the US, reports that factors like tobacco smoke, pets in the house and use of gas oven for heating accounts for 39.2 per cent of …
even small increases in the levels of air pollutant ozone may have an adverse effect on the health of children, causing them to miss school, a new report suggests. "We detected ill health effects in school children because of levels well below the current air quality standard for allowable levels …
Most of them have been putting it down to a supernatural curse. Jatadhari, the guardian spirit (theyyam) of the area, is angry, believe several people of Padre village of Enmakaje Gram Panchayat (village council) in Kasaragod district of Kerala. Family after family has people suffering from diseases that were never …
the human foetus does have a memory. This recently reported discovery could lead to new tests to identify and find solutions to health problems in the central nervous system of the foetus. Jan Nijhuis, professor at the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University Hospital in Masstricht, the Netherlands, …
researchers have linked nitrate in drinking water with recurrent acute respiratory disorder in children. Research conducted by S K Gupta and colleagues at the Satellite Hospital, Bampark, Jaipur has found a relation between high intake of nitrates and symptoms of lung infection ( Environmental Health Perspectives , Vol 108, No …
cases of crippling bone deformities are emerging from four villages on the outskirts of Lahore. These villages are now known as the "fluoride belt'. Says Sajid Maqbool, project director of the Children Hospital in Lahore: "So far, 100-120 cases
bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( bse ) or mad cow disease, which has continued to trouble many European nations, is affecting India as well. Diabetic children are bearing the brunt of the disease as they have to pay four times more for genetically-engineered human insulin, which is the only alternative available …
to highlight the health hazards posed by environmental and occupational exposure to pollutants, the Lucknow- based Industrial Toxicology Research Centre ( itrc ) recently organised a five-day
Children, in developing nations, face grave risk from air pollution. These are the findings of a report published by, the Washington-based, World Resources Institute ( wri ) . The report studies the risks to children from air pollution in urban outdoors. Nearly a year after the publication of the study, …
friends of the Earth (foe) an international non-governmental organisation, is demanding that uk should ban the use of chlorpyrifos, the world's most commonly used insecticide. This demand was made in the wake of the recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Pesticides ( acp ). According to the committee, the …
In Africa's Rift Valley, a simple fly trap is helping to check the spread of the second leading cause of blindness in the world. The inventor David Morley, a retired specialist in tropical child health at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, has based the device on the assumption that …
complications may arise during pregnancy when a foetus has red blood cells that carry proteins inherited from the father, but the mother's red blood cells lack these proteins. Because of this mismatch between mother and foetus, antibodies produced by the mother's immune cells can destroy the foetus' red blood cells, …
Pulmonary responses of children chronically exposed to ambient air pollution in Calcutta have been investigated. A total number of 153 children from Calcutta and 116 from rural West Bengal in the age group of 6-17 yr were included in this study. Respiratory symptom complex, sputum cytology and micronucleus (MN) count …
A new study suggests that the more hours a child spends in day-care centres or with caretakers, the greater is the impact of separation on the mother-child bond. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, USA, examined 1,274 mothers and their children. They found that children who …
A newly-formed organisation in Bangladesh, Forum for Arsenic Patients (fap), has threatened to sue the United Nations Children's Fund (unicef) for compensation on behalf of millions of unsuspecting victims of arsenic poisoning. The hand-pump system, introduced to wean the vast majority of Bangladeshis off contaminated surface water, was identified as …
france has tightened norms on the use of chemicals in toys after studies confirmed the dangers of chemicals present in them. The government has said that buying, selling, production, import and export of a number of plastic toys containing phthalates are to be prohibited. Besides, it also imposed a ban …
Iraq has agreed to allow a United Nations (UN) team of experts into the country to remove toxic substances left behind in Baghdad by disarmament inspectors. UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's special envoy to Iraq, Prakash Shah, said Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, notified him of approval for the visit. …
often mothers leave lights on in the nursery or where babies and toddlers are made to sleep. This could be either due to the feelings of mothers that light could be comforting or just as a precautionary measure as light is always more reassuring for one's security. However, research just …
