The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
• Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly toxic chemicals whose production and use has been banned all over the world. • PCBs are heat resistant, but when they burn at high temperatures they produce one of the most lethal toxins. • PCBs degrade very slowly in the environment, polluting it for …
Mixtures of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were manufactured for commercial purposes from 1929 onwards. They were chiefly used as coolants and insulation fluids in transformers and capacitors, and as lubricants and fire retardants. Most PCBs do not easily react to other chemicals and are heat-resistant. There are some 180 commonly known …
PCBs have polluted rivers and the Great Lakes of the US mid-west. Studies conducted on the Mississippi, the Ohio rivers, and the Fox have found PCBs associated with the sediments and the organic content in the water. PCBs were most concentrated in fish in the Mississippi near Pepin (Wisconsin) and …
Manufacture, use and disposal of PCBs was restricted in many countries in the 1970s. Japan banned production in 1972, Canada in 1977. The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) restricted their use in February 1973, and phased them out by end-1988. The OECD set the maximum permissible levels of …
after prolonged ad hocism, the Union ministry of environment and forests ( mef ) has at last banned the use of azo dyes in India from June 23, 1997. These dyes were widely used for dyeing natural and synthetic fibres, leather, plastic, oils, fats, waxes, straw, timber, paper as well …
Antarctic seabirds are accumulating dangerously high levels of toxic organic chemicals in their bodies, according to Nico van den Brink of the Institute for Forestry and Nature Research in Wageningen, the Netherlands. He says the culprit is pollution produced by industrial plants thousands of kilometres away. He focused in particular …
The Gujarat unit of People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) recently filed a petition in the High Court of Gujarat against the state government, the commissioner of industries and chief factory inspector of Gujarat alleging the failure of chemical and pharmaceutical industries in Ankleshwar to disclose information about the dangers …
IN A recent positive step, the European Union (EU) passed a regulation banning the export of hazardous wastes to developing countries for recovery purposes, to be effective from the beginning of next year. This regulation is designed to align EU legislation with Decision II /12 that was adopted as an …
Twelve persons died in three chemical explosions in Delhi recently. Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP), the chemical compound believed to be responsible for the explosion, is used as a catalyst for fibreglass processing in helmet-manufacturing units. Stabilising agents like di-methyl phthalate need to be added to this volatile compound in …
In a recent order, the Supreme Court ofIndia directed the Union government to set up within two months a committee to decide on tri-monthly steps to either ban or restrict use of insecticides and chemical food additives which are hazardous to human health. The court observed that though some steps …
SEVERAL Indian voluntary organisations held a demonstration in front of the ministry of environment and forests (MEF) on April 17, demanding that India ratify the Basel convention and stop all imports of hazardous wastes. Greenpeace activists from at least seven countries were present at the demonstration. They later met the …
A cyanide spill in the Guijiang river near Wuzhou city in southwestern Guangxi province recently resulted in the death of a large number of fish in the river and suspension of water supply by some local water companies. The spill occurred when a truck carrying 10 tonnes of cyanide fell …
Three Guyanese citizens have filed a case against the Canadian mining company Cambior in the superior court of Quebec, Canada, for the environmental damage caused by the leakage of 3.2 billion litres of cyanide-laced waste into Guyanese rivers in August l995. The spill took place when the wall of a …
SWEDES are at risk from toxic chemicals leaking out of old concrete towers, according to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in soil close to a block of flats in capital Stockholm have been found to be 20 times higher than the country's safety limit …
OTULA OWUOR NAIROBI the fear that deadly European products and wastes easily end up in Africa was again confirmed when Kenyan customs and health authorities impounded at least 3.2 tonnes of suspected British 'madcow beef' being dumped into the country. The importation of the beef suspected to carry a transmissible …
A prominent environmental group in Mexico city recently accused drug traffickers of poisoning at least 60 dolphins whose rotting carcasses were washed up on the beaches of western Mexico early this year. Homero Aridjis, leader of the 'Group of 100', said that the environmentalists were demanding an investigation into the …
during the last 10 years, largescale mortalities of bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ) have been reported along the Atlantic coast of the us . For the first time, large amounts of tributyltin ( tbt ) - organotin compounds used as an anti-fouling agent in paints (for painting ships and …
the chlorine gas leak in January this year has spurred action among various ngos in Lahore, demanding more protection for the victims. They have founded the Action Committee for the Gas Affectees of Baja Lines. The committee comprises representatives of ngos (Shirkat Gah, World Wide Fund for Nature, Aurat Foundation, …
The Supreme Court of India recently directed the Union ministry of environment and forests to enforce the laws prohibiting the use and dumping of banned hazardous substances. The court remarked that despite passing several orders to this effect in the past year, no steps have been taken against erring units …
