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. …
The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) division of the state agriculture department advises farmers on pest control and is supposed to train them about the judicious use of pesticides. Farmers in Malwa, however, deny receiving such training. IPM is based on the economic threshold level set by the Punjab Agriculture University. …
The US Environmental Protection Agency has approved the use of a new pesticide despite opposition from more than 50 scientists across the country, including five Nobel Prize-winning chemists. Methyl iodide is now the planned replacement for methyl bromide that has been phased out as a fumigant because of its harmful …
immune system: Scientists in the UK are building a mathematical model of immune responses in people. The work will improve the understanding of the human immune system by allowing all the scientific disciplines working on it to have a common reference point and language. The mathematicians will investigate how different …
reliance gas row: In an interim order, the Bombay High Court has ruled that Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) cannot be forced to sell gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields to firms run by his brother Anil Ambani at "subsidized rates and incur loses.' Delivering its verdict on …
Punjab's Malwa region, south of the Sutlej river, grabbed national attention a couple of years ago when its steeply rising cancer graph came to light. Studies had revealed the link between heavy pesticide use and the disease. Little has changed since then. Medical facilities remain dismal and farmers are still …
Agricultural production from the deltaic regions is the highest in countries like India. Study of groundwater quality, which is a function of physical and chemical parameters of the geological formations, is important as it will affect the agricultural production. The present study was carried out with the objective of determining …
Despite widespread concerns, the New Zealand government has again okayed aerial spraying of poison 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate). The country uses about 80 per cent of the world's production of poison 1080. With around 70 million possums munching trees and spreading bovine tuberculosis, the country has no option but to continue …
albert einstein is said to have said: "If the honeybee becomes extinct, mankind will follow within four years.' The physicist wasn't entirely off the mark
The US environment regulator has been sued for approving a popular pesticide, harmful for farm workers and rural residents. On July 31, farmer unions and NGOs filed a lawsuit in the San Jose federal court against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approving the pesticide chlorpyrifos, sold under several brand …
A solid phase extraction and gas chromatography with negative chemical ionization mass spectrometry in scan mode (GC-NCI-MS) method was developed to identify and quantify for the first time low levels of organochlorine pesticides (OCs) in plasma samples of less than 100 ?l from wild birds. The method detection limits ranged …
Experiments have been carried out on the impact of commonly used pesticides on the population of earthworms and enchytraeids in rice-wheat cropping system.
Major recommendations of Ganguly panel: >> Maximum residue limit (MRL) of 1 ppb for an individual pesticide >> MRL to apply initially to eight pesticides, including HCH, DDT, chlorpyriphos, malathion and endosulfan, for three years >> Data on consumption pattern of soft drinks to be generated >> Consumption data on …
It is election time in Punjab. Every body has started talking about development. The word Development has become a major issue. Election manifestos are painting a rosy picture of a Developed Punjab. But, none of them is kind enough to tell what will be cost of this development? And who …
This report examines pesticide use in Kuttanad, India, an economically sensitive area often referred to as the rice bowl of Kerala. Using primary data collected from pesticide applicators and farm labor, the report assesses short-term health costs associated with pesticide exposure. The report finds that the toxicity level and dose …
Geographic Information System (GIS) was utilized to apply a modified DRASTIC method to assess the aquifer vulnerability to pollution of English Bazar Block of Malda District, West Bengal, India. In the western, central and southern parts of the study area the aquifer is prone to contamination. Therefore, in these regions …
This study examines pesticide use in Kuttanad, India an ecologically sensitive area often referred to as the rice bowl of Kerala. Using primary data collected from pesticide applicators and farm labor, the study assesses short-term health costs associated with pesticide exposure. The study finds that the toxicity level and dose …
Pesticides, common environmental exposures, have been examined in relation to breast cancer primarily in occupational studies or exposure biomarker studies. No known studies have focused on self-reported residential pesticide use. The authors investigated the association between reported lifetime residential pesticide use and breast cancer risk among women living on Long …
In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to study the genotoxic effect of commonly used pesticides of South India, like 2,4-D, lindane, sevin and phosphamidon, in the human lymphocytes by comet assay and chromosomal analysis.
Since the 1960s, the world's population has more than doubled and agricultural production per person has increased by a third. Yet this growth in production has masked enormous hidden costs arising from widespread pesticide use - massive ecological damage and high incidences of farmer poisoning and chronic health effects. Whereas …
