WHO, UNDP, UNEP and UNICEF have partnered to create a new compendium of 500 actions aimed at reducing death and diseases driven by environmental risk factors, the first such resource to unite this expertise from across the UN system. Environmental pollution and other environmental risks cause 24 per cent of …
a mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum, found in Kerala, has long been known as a panacea in Oriental folklore and Chinese medicine. Now a group of scientists in India claim the fungus shields the body from radiation. Researchers from the Amala Cancer Research Centre at Thrissur in Kerala and the Bhabha Atomic …
sterilising produce: A new method to sterilise fruits and vegetables has been developed, which literally sucks life out of germs. It could replace ozone-depleting chemicals, like methyl bromide, which are currently used to sterilise fresh produce. Called metabolic stress disinfection, the technique was developed by Manuel Lagunas-Solar and his team …
Auranium mining company operating in Arlit city in Niger has been accused of adopting inadequate safety measures, following findings that the radioactive metal was harming the local population. RELATED STORY • Cover: Mining [March 15, 2005] The company, Cogema Resources Inc, is part of a French government-owned group, which is …
Veznova, Belarus Natasha Popova, 12, and Vadim Kuleshov, 8. Natasha was born with microcephaly; her head is too small. Vadim has a bone disease and is also mentally retarded Gomel, Belarus Annya Pesenko has a brain tumour. She was born in Zakoptye, a village which was heavily contaminated, and ultimately …
garlic safety: Researchers from UK's Liverpool John Moores University claim that a garlic supplement may reduce the risk of heart attacks in patients with coronary problems. Led by Khalid Rahman and Gordon Lowe, the scientists found aged garlic extract decreases the chances of formation of blood clots. The extract targets …
a meeting was organised to discuss the urgent need to regulate radiofrequency field (rf) levels of mobile phones in India. The meeting was organised on October 25, 2005, by International Telecommunication Union
Underneath the sleepy suburbs of Orange, New Jersey, usa, lies a unique site in the history of labour rights and the understanding of radioactive materials. For it was in a factory here in the 1920s that almost hundred young women were slowly poisoned to death with radium. The ensuing case …
If you use a cell phone, take a call on its health effects. Despite cell phone manufacturers sticking to the line that there are no confirmed adverse effects of the contrivance, studies doubting its innocuousness continue to appear with a grim regularity. Not only that; its innocence is being lawfully …
A commonly used Indian herb, Terminalia chebula, which belongs to the family Combretaceae, is likely to receive international attention following the discovery that its fruit can protect people from the damage caused by nuclear radiation. The discovery has been reported by G H Naik, K I Priyadarsini and H Mohan …
Short Wave & Medium Wave Transmission Has it been difficult, of late, to tune in to radio stations such as Radio Ceylon and bbc? Has the crackle or signal fade-out, as you tune in to medium- and short-wave stations on your radio, increased? Have you been wondering why? Now, an …
Four Japanese electricity workers were killed and seven injured when turbine steam escaped at a nuclear plant in Mihama, on the Sea of Japan. The incident, involving the highest number of fatalities at a Japanese nuclear power plant, has heightened concern about the nuclear industry. The Kansai Electric Power Company …
in what is perhaps a first for India, a Mumbai civil court recently ordered a cellular phone service provider to dismantle one of its networking antennae from a residential apartment over fears that the device was causing radiation exposure. The latent message behind the directive is that mobile phone towers …
the un, a key opponent of weapons of mass destruction, is ironically all set to harness nuclear energy to combat malaria. Its International Atomic Energy Agency (iaea) intends to soon use the Sterile Insect Technique (sit) in Africa
radiation from mobile phones may damage blood cells by increasing the forces they exert on each other, indicates a recent study. The findings prove yet again that mobile phones can cause cancer and other ailments. Conventionally, radiations are considered damaging to cells only if they are strong enough to break …
A uranium drought haunts India's nuclear programme. And in the rush to end this scarcity, UCIL has failed in gaining people's confidence. The country's current nuclear power generation is entirely dependent on natural uranium (see chart: All reactions delayed), which fuels 12 pressurised heavy water reactors and all research projects. …
The first stage of nuclear programme is way behind schedule and is mired in controversies, but the second stage seems to have more problems in store. When the Union cabinet sat down on September 2 last year to approve the construction of a 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor in …
x-rays, the largest human-made source of radiation exposure for the general population, are adding in hundreds of more cancer cases every year across the world, indicates a study published in The Lancet (Vol 363, No 9406, January 31, 2004). In the uk
ralph Mills first knew something was wrong with his brain when he lost track of his own garden. As a truck driver, he had navigated his way across Europe; suddenly his own house was a big maze. Baffled, he visited a doctor, and within an hour was hospitalised; a brain …
