Stop antibiotics in honey: Centre

FOOD Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued an advisory stating that residues of antibiotics and pesticide are not allowed in honey. The authority said India follows stringent safety standards similar to the EU and the US, where use of antibiotics in honey is illegal.

Science & Technology - Briefs

PHYSICS For faster computers

In Court

Reprieve for generic drug: American firm Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMS) appeal to temporarily stop Ranbaxy from selling the generic version of its hepatitis B drug in India has been turned down by the Delhi High Court.

Letters

Subsidy for a select few

Creating indomitable superbugs

Antibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of an antibiotic. If even at a large dose, the antibiotic is not effective in treating an infection, then the microorganism that is responsible for the infection is declared resistant to that antibiotic.

Bee farms to shops

The journey of honey from bee farms to breakfast tables has become complex with time. From wild honey gatherers, honey supply has passed into the hands of cooperatives of individual beekeepers and then to big companies.

Natural and pure?

The one kg jar of honey on Sangeeta Das’s kitchen shelf has many uses. Every morning she takes out a small quantity and puts it on the breakfast table. Her husband, Indranil, a media executive, likes a little bit of honey on his toast and the couple’s three-year-old son has spoonfuls. In the evenings, Sangeeta stirs a spoonful of honey into a glass of lukewarm water mixed with lemon juice and drinks it for weight control. She also uses honey in combination with basil (tulsi) and ginger juice as cough remedy. Sangeeta’s fondness for honey holds true for most Indians who regard it as a health food that can rejuvenate the elderly and boost immunity of infants.

What beekeepers use

“We use only Chinese strips. We do not know what it contains but it is the most effective,” says Lal Bahadur of Etah district of Uttar Pradesh when asked why he does not use formic and oxalic acid scientists recommend.

Brickbats for compulsory licences

India’s pharmaceuticals industry tends to be in the eye of the storm for one reason or the other. If it is not about its aggressive generics thrust globally, it is about high-profile patent infringement cases at home and abroad.

Nemesis of killer drugs

On July 15, 1962, a Washington Post story, ‘Heroine of FDA keeps bad drug off market,’ shocked Americans. The heroine in question was Frances Oldham Kelsey. She had joined the US Food and Drug Administration two years earlier as a drug application investigator. With her expertise in pharmacology, she was the obvious choice to test the veracity of an application for a “harmless” sedative that was already being sold in 46 countries. The drug, Kevadon, was one of the trade names of thalidomide.