The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
Diesel exhaust particles (DEPs) are the main components of ambient particulate materials, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), n-PAHs, heavy metals, and gaseous materials. Many epidemiological, clinical, and toxicological studies have shown that ambient particles, including DEPs, are associated with respiratory disorders, such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, and lung cancer. However, the …
EXPOSURE to organic pollutants can disrupt the formation of nervous system in a foetus. This in turn may lead to neural tube defects. The disease affects over 320,000 infants worldwide every year. Earlier studies have linked organic pollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), from indoor coal stoves, smoking and vehicle …
THE Supreme Court has turned down the request of pesticide manufacturers to allow them to export the pesticide stocks in India. The court had banned the sale, manufacture, use and export of the pesticide on May 13 on a petition by the youth wing of the CPI(M), the Democratic Youth …
New Delhi The Supreme Court on Friday refused to relax the countrywide blanket ban on manufacture, sale and use of pesticide endosulfan. However, the apex court sought views from an expert committee on allowing export of the existing stock of endosulfan. A bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia asked …
Affidavit filed in the Supreme Court of India dated 4/08/2011 in re: Endosulfan - W.P.(C) NO.213/2011 Democratic Youth Federation of India Vs. Union of India & Ors which includes the Interim Report of Joint Expert Committee on Endosulfan.
European companies are not providing robust information to regulators or alternatives to animal experiments. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110713/full/475150a.html
Exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), such as bisphenol A (BPA), may cause adverse health effects in wildlife and humans, but controversy remains as to what traits are most sensitive to EDCs and might serve as barometers of exposure. Expression of sexually selected traits that have evolved through intrasexual competition …
A growing body of evidence suggests pesticides may play a role in Parkinson’s disease (PD) in humans. Selfreported PD has been associated with lifetime use of pesticides, and animal studies have suggested that the pesticides paraquat and rotenone can cause oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, respectively—posited mechanisms of action in …
The book throws light on classification of pesticide active ingredients on the basis of their toxicity to non-target organism by latest WHO covering information on all the 230 pesticides registered in India as on May, 2011. It includes trade name, registered formulations, target pests and crops which they are applied …
Fuel (diesel and petrol) constitutes a complex mixture of volatile flammable liquid hydrocarbons among them benzene (BZ), toluene (TOL), and xylene (XYL) are considered to be the most hazardous, predominantly BZ because of its carcinogenic potency. Exposure to these compounds may have an impact on the health of the exposed …
This committee report submitted to Gujarat Health Ministry has disfavoured ban on endosulfan production in the state saying there are no health effects on humans as a result of exposure to the insecticide. This committee was constituted following representation from endosulfan workers in Gujarat, who urged the state government not …
Methylmercury cycling in the Pacific Ocean has garnered significant attention in recent years, especially with regard to rising mercury emissions from Asia. Uncertainty exists concerning whether increases in anthropogenic emissions over time may have caused increased mercury bioaccumulation in the biota. To address this, we measured total mercury and, for …
The energy drinks market in the country is worth Rs 200 crore and is growing unregulated and several studies confirm that energy drinks can be unsafe. But in India these drinks are labelled as proprietary food that has no prescribed standards. Read this special report in Down to Earth to …
In January, about 300 people in the US suffered health problems from excessive consumption of energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster; most of them were children and teenagers, as per the American Association of Poison Control Centers. The association has recently started tracking the toxicity of energy drinks that …
Endosulfan sulfate is a persistent environmental metabolite of endosulfan, an organochlorine insecticide–acaricide presently registered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. There is, however, limited acute fish toxicity data for endosulfan sulfate. This study determines the acute toxicity (LC50s and LC10s) of endosulfan sulfate to three inland Florida native fish …
MERCURY contamination in Florida’s rivers is turning a bird species homosexual. A study by the University of Florida in the US claimed that exposure to the toxic chemical made male American white ibises mate with other males—a phenomenon unknown in the species. Previous scientific studies focussed on how methylmercury—the most …
According to this independent scientific study by Lou Gallagher, the safety claims made for Bt brinjal, are not supported by existing data and says that its consumption could result in adverse health effects. Plans for India’s first genetically engineered crop for human consumption have triggered a safety report that reveals …
A scientific study of soil and water samples taken from the region surrounding the controversial Sterlite Industries’ copper smelting plant in Thoothukudi has revealed a startling picture of environmental poisoning. The results of analyses of the samples by a US-based Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) scientist Dr Mark Chernaik attributes …
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a highly prevalent constituent of plastics that has been associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and an increased risk of miscarriages in humans. In mice, BPA exposure disrupts the process of meiosis; however, analysis of the affected molecular pathways is lagging and has been particularly challenging. Here …
