In court

abestos negligence:Two Oklahoma state officials were found guilty of negligence by a federal court jury on August 20, 2007. In 2003, the guilty men, Guy R Hylton, Jr, city manager of the Elk City Community Work Center in Oklahoma, and Chick Arthur Little, a building superintendent, had used inmates of the Elk centre to remove asbestos from an old railroad depot. City officials had also negligently released asbestos into the air. Hylton will have to pay US $100,000 as fine and serve one year in prison while Arthur Little will have to pay US

Snippets

• Philippines president Gloria Arroyo banned fishing in the waters of Guimaras, which needs rehabilitation from an oil spill that has occurred in early August. Local leaders, residents, and a group of militant fishermen unanimously resisted the ban, saying the move would result in a national fish crisis and affect food security. Experts say, ban will lead to 20 per cent decrease in fish production

In Short

desalination plant rejected: The Chennai water forum has appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to drop its proposed Rs 500 crore desalination plant at Minjur in the state capital. The proposed plant, with a daily capacity of 100 million litres, would consume 5 kilowatts for every kilolitre (KL) of seawater, implying a cost of Rs 30-50 per KL. The forum instead suggested reviving the 2,000 waterbodies located in the peri-urban areas around Chennai and also treating and reusing wastewater.

Tactical pressure

Japan recently lifted its ban on us beef imports, which was imposed due to threats of mad cow disease in the us cattle, in December 2003. Japan said beef from American cattle under 21 months old would be allowed back into the country, provided strict guidelines were adhered to by the us producers.

Utterly bovine

the Indian government and the country's scientific fraternity have reacted sharply to a proposal by two British researchers that the Mad Cow disease could originally have been caused by contaminated cattle feed imported from the Indian subcontinent. "The theory is based on a wild speculation and is not backed by hard data," they argue.

In Court

Pointless: A US federal appeals court recently heard arguments on a five-year-old battle over whether the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from motor vehicles. The results were as unclear as ever. The plaintiffs in the case comprise 12 states, one territory, three cities and 13 non-government organisations. They want EPA to explain why it can't regulate CO2 emissions from motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act.

In Short

mad cow victim: Florida-based Charlene Singh, 25, suffering the only known instance of the human form of mad cow disease in the US, died recently. She was ill since 2001. She suffered from the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a brain-wasting illness caused by eating processed food made from cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. A spokesperson of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a team of experts would go to Florida to discuss the matter with local health officials.

Cowed down

The diagnosis of mad cow disease in an animal in rural Washington spoilt the new-year party of the us $70 billion us beef industry this year. As many as two dozen nations, including Australia, Japan and Russia, put breaks on us beef imports, which raked in about us $3.2 billion in 2003.

Mad cow scare

saudi arabia has banned the import of beef from South Africa because of concerns over "mad cow" disease, despite assurances from South Africa that its beef is safe, reported the daily Asharq al-Awsat . The South African government says the country has never been affected by the disease, which came to prominence in 1996 when beef from the uk was banned globally after an outbreak of the disease. Saudi Arabia, where meat is the staple diet for the 18 million population, imposed a ban on British beef in 1996.

A lesson unlearnt

It is widely agreed that the bse scare (popularly known as the madcow disease) in the United Kingdom was badly handled by the ministers and officials responsible for food safety. Other governments might have noted and carefully learnt. Not so the government of neighbouring Belgium.