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 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 …
Last fortnight, Down To Earth reported on the 'endosulfan scam'. On how an "expert" group, set up by the government to review safety concerns related to the pesticide and the health impacts on people living in the shadow of 20 years of incessant aerial spraying, had given the matter short …
The Santa Clara County Superior Court in California, usa, has temporarily halted the 50 toxic chemical exposure claims filed by current and former employees against technology giant International Business Machines Inc (ibm). Judge Robert Baines has ordered that a third-party mediator be selected to resolve the court cases. The workers …
On the night of December 2, 1984, forty tons of deadly methyl isocyanate leaked out of a Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, killing thousands and injuring many more. In Bhopal: The Inside Story, T.R. Chouhan, a former worker in the plant, tells for the first time what it …
the strong case against endosulfan just got stronger. Environmental Health Perspectives (ehp), a peer-reviewed scientific journal of international repute, has published the Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Occupational Health's (nioh) damning research on the organochlorine pesticide in its December 2003 issue. Not only does this vindicate nioh, fresh doubts have also …
Aligarh, an industrial town of Uttar Pradesh, is spread over an area of about 40 square kilometres and has a population in a little in excess of six lakhs. The city has two distinct parts
gm on the platter: The US government has recently issued a notice to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for failing to comply with safety laws when it allowed offsprings of animals used in a genetic experiment to be sold as food. The pigs had genes from different species; the …
September saw a slew of developments giving renewed impetus to the global movement against asbestos. While a consensus was evolved in three conferences
Eloor, a river island in Kerala, is in the midst of a health crisis, thanks to 247 chemical factories operating within the vicinity of residential areas. Residents of the island are more susceptible to diseases than those living in other places of the Kochi district, indicates a study. The health …
In Kolkata city the road transports are maintained by private and Government organization. A major work force belonged to the State Transport Corporation (KSTC), Government of West-Bengal. The pollution caused by these vehicles affects the workers health and caused different types of respiratory problems. This study was undertaken to assess …
• He served the Indian Army in his heydays. Today he cannot stand straight and can barely walk without a walking stick. Hands, which used to wield artillery, cannot hold a glass of water or button his shirt. D V Singh, a 66-year-old retired army officer, is suffering from central …
In the Chaibasa region of the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, India, an abandoned chrysotile asbestos mine is a health scourge for villagers and former mine workers. A massive pile of asbestos waste mixed with chromite has lain atop the hilltops of Roro village for two decades, gradually seeping into …
South African mineworkers have received about us $60.3 million as compensation for asbestos exposure. The deal marks the first time black mineworkers have won damages from a South African company. Gencor, a former mining finance house, brokered the agreement on behalf of its former units
six people died recently in a fire at the Alang ship-breaking yard in Gujarat. The issue of workers' safety and the environmental implications of this highly polluting activity have come to the fore yet again after the mishap. The incident also assumes significance in the light of recent global developments …
