DDT is currently used in indoor residual spraying (IRS) for malaria vector control in several countries, in accordance with the recommendations and guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). Nonetheless, this chemical is among the 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) the production or use of which is restricted by the …
EVEN as international negotiations are on to eliminate the use of at least 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPS), India has emerged as their major user, producer and distributor. Moreover, countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, as well as India, are stuck with obsolete but potent stockpiles with no proper disposal …
THE widespread effects of pollution can be gauged from the fact that the remotest and the most uninhabitable regions on earth are facing the brunt of pollution caused by pesticides and industrial chemicals. Researchers at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, found that atmospheric processes are transporting and dumping chemicals …
TOXIC industrial chemicals have been discovered in the tissues of whales that normally feed in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Even though the quantities found may not be harmful, their findings show how far the chemicals have penetrated the ocean's food chain. The chemicals found are the polybrominated …
All over the world sperm count in humans has declined by over 50 per cent in the last 30 years. In India, studies involving more than 1600 men, both fertile and infertile, over the past 15 years have shown a decrease by 43 per cent in sperm count . In …
FISH in the Sea of Japan have been found to have high levels of toxic chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS) and dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT). A team of researchers led by Shinsuke Tanabe, professor at the Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan, found blackfish, striped dolphins and killer whales with high contents …
"DRINK only the Delhi }al Board water," advise the numerous advertisements brought out by the Delhi government. Not really. Even the treated water coming through supply pipes is contaminated and unfit for drinking, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). An affidavit filed in the Delhi high court has …
SCIENTISTS will soon launch a study on polar bears to determine how chemical pollutants are affecting their health. Researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) in Tromsoe, have planned to investigate the effect of high concentrations of polychlori-nated biphenyls (PCBS) and the pesticide dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT) on the immune systems …
Persistent organochlorines such as DDT and its metabolites (DDTs), hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCHs), chlordane compounds (CHLs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in whole-body homogenates of resident and migratory birds collected from South India. Organochlorine contamination pattern in birds varied depending on their migratory behaviour. Resident birds contained relatively …
MALARIA, the dreaded killer disease, is staging a comeback with a vengeance. Thought to have been controlled to a large extent if not eradicated altogether, its recurring presence today, has put a formidable question mark on the methods used to eliminate it. The spotlight has returned to the well-known but …
ALL the way up at the North Pole, Arctic lakes are teeming with severe cases of pesticide contaminated fish. Dangerous levels of the pesticide toxaphene in the trout and turbot stock in Lake Laberge, in Yukon, Canada, have been reported by a team of Canadian researchers investigating the causes of …
Contaminant levels of pocs have been established in various foods in countries such as India, Thailand and Vietnam. Concentrations of a number of pocs exceed the recommended maximum residue limits set by the World Health Organisation (who) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (fao) for various food items in India. Overall …
Concentrations of persistent organochlorine residues were determined in fish collected from several locations in eastern and southern Asia and Oceania to identifythe accumulation features of such residues in tropical aquatic organisms and to elucidate their distribution in tropical developing countries. DDT and its derivatives (DDTs) were the predominantly identified compounds …
NOT many of us are aware that the controversial pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), played an important role in the Second World War, when this 'wonder pesticide' was used to kill the lice responsible for the spread of typhoid among the Allied forces. It was in the '60s that the world came …
Move over mosquito coils, repellent mats and creams. A green way of hacking the pesky biters, by way of bio-degradable insecticides, will soon make the nights more peaceful. The brainchild of the National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP), bio-degradable insecticides -- melathone and synthetic phyrathoride -- will be used from 1997 …
Research indicates that there is still a place for that much maligned pesticide DDT, in controlling the Tse-tse fly, a vector in the debilitating disease trypanosomiasis -- the dreaded sleeping sickness. Scientists from Britain's Natural Resources Institute, who studied the impact of DDT in Zimbabwe, found that the pesticide had …
If you live in Delhi, chances are that you are drinking more DDT and other pesticides with your milk than is good for you. A survey conducted by the Karnal-based National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in the Capital has revealed that the pesticide contamination in milk supplied by the Delhi …
Duplicate samples of the diet of vegetarian adults were analyzed to estimate the residues of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and benzene hexachloride (BHC). The total food consumed by an adult per day was collected and categorized as fatty food, non-fatty food, water, and beverages. Fatty food was the main source of these …
In the wake of the Latur earthquake, to make sure it doesn't get caught on the wrong foot once again, the Central government plans to set up a network of seismic stations. The Rs 100 crore technology mission will create a databank by establishing seismic observatories and cyclone warning centres, …
SEVERAL foods people all over the country consume daily -- milk, butter and cereals, for example -- have been found to contain substances hazardous to health by a nationwide survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The ICMR surveyors found that as much as 87 per cent …
