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- Man-made reasons for Uttarakhand disaster
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- Gujarat pollution board gets a makeover in efficiency 33
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- The unseen invader
- Mirage of a river 5
- Monsoon arrives early; kills over 30 people in Uttarakhand
- Out of turn
- Environment ministry wants to restore night traffic through Bandipur tiger reserve 52
- A green facade 45
- Diesel: when bad policy makes for toxic hell 38
- Gujarat pollution board gets a makeover in efficiency 33
- What’s good insulation? 30
- How vulnerable are India's nuclear power plants to disaster 28
- Grand distraction called river interlinking 28
- Eat at your own risk 27
- Green energy takes toll on green cover 26
- Temporary solution, permanent jam 25
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Food chain
Butterflies brought by tsunami threaten Andaman's ecology
Issue Date: Oct 15, 2007
Butterflies in the Andaman archipelago have been facing colonisation. The carrier of the colonists was the 2004 tsunami which brought three foreign species of butterflies to the islands, threatening its fragile ecology.
Of the three species, two, Danias melanipus camorta and Anitilope anomala, are endemic subspecies from the Nicobar group of islands and the third, Precis lemonias lemonias, is from Myanmar.
US biotech to plant GM rice with human genes
Issue Date: Apr 15, 2007
on february 28, 2007, the us department of agriculture (usda) gave preliminary draft approval to a biotech company to plant genetically modified rice to produce human proteins, amidst fears about its risk to human health. If the project, proposed by California-based Ventria Biosciences, gets final approval it will be the first time a plant containing human and plant genes will have been grown commercially.
Rs 67 crore later
Issue Date: Mar 15, 2005
On January 15, 2005, 23 leather tanneries in Kanpur's Jajmau area were 'temporarily' closed. They had failed to install chromium recovery plants. The closure was part of a Uttar Pradesh pollution control board's (uppcb) 'crusade' to prevent pollution of the city's water bodies. But a visit to Jajmau, which produces 12 per cent of the country's leather, reveals the step is a mere sham.
Less to eat
Issue Date: Nov 30, 2004
global warming is driving the North Sea ecosystem to the brink of collapse. This warning comes from an analysis of half-a-century of data on the abundance of plankton. Rising temperatures are effecting when these creatures breed; this in turn, is impacting, the food chain.
Crisis staved off
Issue Date: Jul 15, 2002
The memories of Belgium's 1999 dioxin crisis were revived with Germany shaken over feed grain contaminated by nitrofen, a cancer-causing chemical banned in the European Union (eu). Even though thousands of organic chickens were slaughtered, it was feared that infected meat and eggs had already entered the food chain.
ARSENIC CONTAMINATION
Issue Date: Feb 28, 2002
Arsenic has entered the food chain of the Bangladeshis through irrigation systems used to grow grain, say health experts. "It is not only the ill- effects of arsenic (from drinking of water) but also because of irrigation of grain fields with arsenic contaminated water," reveals Mahmuder Rahman of Dhaka Community Hospital (DCH).
In Bangladesh, around 10,000 people have been identified to be suffering from arsenic-related diseases while more than 25 million may be facing similar danger, health officials said.
The unholy accrual
Issue Date: Dec 31, 2001
"sauns sabhi ko pyari hai, Ganga maiya ki sawari hai ." This is the constant chanting that follows every splash of water as fisherfolk in Patna nudge their boats along the banks of the Ganges. And the hymn simply denotes a truth: Gangetic dolphin is dear to all and it is the vehicle of the mother Ganga.
Mercury-laced food
Issue Date: Sep 30, 2001
intense cold, sea spray and long dark winters are stripping toxic mercury from the atmosphere and pushing it into the fragile Arctic food chain where it is accumulating, new research suggests.
The POPs treaty
Issue Date: Jun 30, 2001
A dozen notoriously toxic chemicals have been outlawed, or restricted around the world under a landmark United Nations treaty signed in Stockholm in May. It is a rare piece of good news for the global environment. The accord will ban, phase out or severely cut back a range of industrial chemicals and pesticides that linger in soil and water for decades. These pollutants pass up the food chain and accumulate in the body's fatty tissues. They are a suspected source of allergies, birth defects, cancer and damage to the immune system and reproductive organs.
Untamed bacteria
Issue Date: May 31, 2001
uk's national campaign to reduce resistance to the antibiotic sulphonamide has not worked, say researchers. And they put part blame for the rise of treatment-resistant bacteria on the overuse of antibiotics.
