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. …
Pesticides pose serious threats to both human health and the environment. In Europe, farmers are encouraged to reduce their use, and in France a recent environmental policy fixed a target of halving the pesticide use by 2018. Organic and integrated cropping systems have been proposed as possible solutions for reducing …
Neonicotinoids currently dominate the insecticide market as seed treatments on Canada’s major Prairie crops (e.g., canola). The potential impact to ecologically significant wetlands in this dominantly agro-environment has largely been overlooked while the distribution of use, incidence and level of contamination remains unreported. We modelled the spatial distribution of neonicotinoid …
The government has allowed commercial cultivation of Bt cotton, while moratorium has been put on Bt brinjal There are no "credible scientific reports" to prove that genetically modified (GM) crops have adverse impact on environment, human health and livestock, the government said in Parliament today. "No madam, there are no …
Fifteen species of birds seen in India have been declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN) for 2013. The endangered birds, including the Great Indian Bustard, Siberian Crane, White backed Vulture and Red-headed Vulture, are on the decline, said a report of IUCN updated till …
Neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, affect millions of children worldwide, and some diagnoses seem to be increasing in frequency. Industrial chemicals that injure the developing brain are among the known causes for this rise in prevalence. In 2006, we did a systematic review …
Farmers of the Valley have been found to supply their produce in the market, neglecting the time period required to let the effects of pesticides used in growing them subside. Findings to this effect were revealed in a research conducted by Entomology Division under Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC). A …
Use of pesticides in different farm products including food grains and vegetables has suddenly jumped up in the country in the past few years. A total of 50 metric tonnes of pesticides was imported annually to Nepal till 10 years ago but now it has reached 345 metric tonnes. Millions …
Cypermethrin is a synthetic pyrethoid mainly used against mango insect pests. Clams are good indicators of pesticide pollution and are known to be tolerant to pesticide accumulation. Acute toxicity experiment of Cypermethrin is carried out on estuarine clam, Marcia opima. The clam exhibited significant increase in protein content of gill …
Neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been increasingly blamed for the collapse of bee populations, may also impact human's developing nervous system, according to a review of research by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The EFSA says that current safety guidelines for two pesticides—acetamiprid and imidacloprid—may be too lax to protect …
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority today directed government authorities to control the use of pesticides in vegetables, fruits, milk and meat without delay. The constitutional anti-corruption agency directed the government authorities — the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture Development and the …
Sri Lanka is the highest user of agro-chemicals in the world. It uses 287 units of agro-chemicals per hectare, whereas Myanmar used only eight units and Bangladesh 144 units per hectare, World Health Organization Geneva Non-Communicable Diseases Director, Prof. Mrs. Shanthi Mendis, has declared. Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) General …
A mysterious chronic kidney disease is afflicting a large number of people in India and Sri Lanka. Despite decades of studies, scientists are yet to pinpoint the cause of the disease. Vibha Varshney travels to Sri Lanka and analyses the state of research, while Richard Mahapatra and M Suchitra report …
Over 35 per cent of the world's food supply would be lost without the use of pesticides. With already over one billion people, which is about 15 per cent of the human population, hungry and with an expected population of nine billion in 2050, the world needs a significant increase …
The government has stepped up measures to discourage the use of pesticides in the agricultural sector owing to the health hazards it poses and the harm it causes to the ecology. In this regard, the Pesticides Registration and Management Division (PRMD) at the Ministry of Agriculture Development, today, launched an …
Tea Board is to shortly come out with a notification on regulations in regard to use of pesticides and plant protection chemicals in tea crops. “We’re introducing pesticide code developed by Tea Research Association for North India teas and by UPASI for the South Indian varieties as part of the …
The governing body on the Hawaiian island of Kauai voted on Saturday to override their mayor's veto of a bill that seeks to reign in widespread pesticide use and the testing of new genetically modified crops. The Kauai County Council's 5-2 vote means agricultural companies will be unable to plant …
The mayor of the tropical island of Kauai, Hawaii, vetoed a measure on Thursday that reins in pesticide use by agricultural companies and limits where they can plant genetically modified crops, saying the bill was "legally flawed." The Kauai County Council voted 6-1 on Oct. 16 in favor of the …
This report by the Fact Finding Mission of GM Free Karnataka coalition relates to the failure of Bt.Cotton Crop in nearly 18 thousand hectares in Haveri and Davanageri districts of Karnataka during Khariff 2013 season starting from 1st week of May 2013 to 2nd week of July 2013. The fact …
Argentine farmworker Fabian Tomasi was never trained to handle pesticides. His job was to keep the crop-dusters flying by filling their tanks as quickly as possible, although it often meant getting drenched in poison. Now, at 47, he’s a living skeleton, so weak he can hardly leave his house in …
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has generated a country-wide ‘public health alert’ to stop the use of substandard insecticides, fearing that the WHO-approved products will no longer be effective to eliminate mosquitoes spreading dengue virus if this practice is not checked immediately. It has particularly addressed the Punjab government to …
