More than 3 million people died as a result of harmful use of alcohol in 2016, according a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO). This represents 1 in 20 deaths. More than three quarters of these deaths were among men. Overall, the harmful use of alcohol causes more …
WHILE an alcoholic mother-to-be guzzles her drinks happily, the child in the womb bears the brunt. Heavy drinking during pregnancy plays havoc with the normal development of the foetus, setting in a set of birth defects called foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Although identified first in 1968, FAS remains an enigma …
Although alcohol consumption has lately been linked to reduced heart problems, researchers at the London-based Royal Colleges of Physicians, Psychiatrists and General Practitioners, have reaffirmed previous "safe limits" of alcohol intake. Reportedly, high alcohol consumption leads to high death rates from blood vessel rupture, even as it lowers mortalitN from …
WITH the Bejing World Conference of Women, 1995, taking off on September 4, different parts of India saw a flood of meetings, conferences and seminars. The Adivasi women's conference in Rourkela, Orissa was held from June 18- 20, 1995. The conference was mainly organised by groups working in the Adivasi …
Tilomajhi and Andharmajhi from Kalahandi, Orissa, were appointed as special police by the government of Orissa, entrusted with the power to break any country liquor pot they come across. Both have been consistently waging a crusade against daru (liquor) for many years. Says Andharmajhi, "I have been fighting against liquor …
Nonsense! most people said, when they heard that the breweries at Pozhiyoor are going to shut down. It seemed an impossibility, for the town had earned notoreity as Kerala's illicit-liqour Capital. However, when they actually did so 3 years ago, a large question opened up : how to survive? The …
The US Food and Drug Agency recently approved Naltrexone -- a medicine to cure alcoholism. The effectiveness of the drug was studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University, USA. Naltrexone reduces alcohol-induced euphoria brought about by the body's endorphins and suppresses the craving to drink more. By mimicking …
THE public meeting was held on a wintry morning. "When the shops were closed, there was peace in our homes. We want that quietness in our ooru (tribal hamlet)," said Shanti, the tribal woman who addressed the meeting. More than 200 villagers had assembled for the January 2nd dharna before …
Four Franciscan Mary Missionery (FMM) nuns who have rebelled against the Church are in the forefront of a struggle for the restoration of tribal ancestral lands illegally occupied, mostly by Christian settlers. "We came here to conscientise the tribals and realised that we needed to be conscientised instead," said sister …
President Boris Yeltsin has sent Russia's advertising industry reeling by banning tobacco and alcohol advertisements. In the last 3 years Russia's advertising market has seen media organisations catering to Western multinationals who have been vying to get a toehold in the country. The tobacco and alcohol markets have seen an …
Researchers at England's University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne have developed efficient fuel cells based on methyl alcohol for use in electric cars (New Scientist, Vol 144, No 1946). To use methyl alcohol as a fuel requires it to be broken down to yield hydrogen, using a catalyst. But the catalyst was problematic …
The cave paintings at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh that date back to circa 6000 BC indicate that honey has been popular in India since then, especially in rural India. A lot of it is consumed during the monsoon. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 51,000 tonnes of honey …
RESEARCH at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Alims) has borne oud the belief that moderate alcohol cosumption can protect people from cornary heart diseases (CHD). The studw reveals that moderate doses of alcow increase the level of proteins called higb density lipoproteins (Hf)LS) that we good for the …
Chemists have confirmed that the Mediterranean cuisine's 2 most important ingredients - garlic and red wine - apparently have a beneficial effect on the heart (Science, Vol 265, No 5178). Andrew Waterhouse of the University of California, Davis, has isolated from red wine a chemical called catechin that is believed …
IN ANTIQUITY, honey was considered a miracle of nature. agle called it "dew distilled from stars and rainbows". And Oblical idea of the Promised Land was a place where milk I boney flowed in abundance. Apiculture - beekeeping in common parlance - has a widespread for ages. Honeycombs were kept …
Connoisseurs who have savoured the renowned French wine, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, for the past 40 years may be surprised to learn that its vintages from the 1950s contained high levels of lead (Nature, Vol 370, No 6484). Belgian and French researchers analysed 19 vintages of the wine and found they contained toxic …
Nothing brings more discomfort to modern vice than a scuffing from elderly tradition. Tribal folk performers are now being used by state government-sponsored cultural troupes in rural Andhra Pradesh to campaign against alcoholism. The project was implemented following a statewide ban on the sale of arrack from October 1 last …
RECENT newspaper reports have illuminated a very different facet of alcoholism. Agitations spearheaded by women against their alcoholic husbands, which have quite frequently, successfully got them out of their addiction, are making headlines in many states. And, a number of organisations are helping the women in their bold endeavour. Jagori …
ALCOHOLIC mothers whose babies suffer from foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) have a great deal for which to answer. Not only are such babies prone to mental retardation, but they rarely improve intellectually, even with careful parenting and education (The Lancet, Vol 341, No 8850). Hans-Ludwig Spohr and his colleagues at …
IN MANIPUR, drinking is more than being merely dangerous to one's health. It can be utterly embarrassing because a man caught drinking there is likely to be stripped, have his face blackened, be paraded seated on a donkey and then handed over to the police for prosecution. Nupi Lan, the …
THE DRIVE against liquor in Kaithal district in Haryana reached its most ludicrous in March this year when the Kamoda village panchayat resolved to reopen the village's liquor vend in the village. Says panchayat member Baju Ram, "The decision was taken because liquor was still easily available and there was …
