Sands of cancer

monazite sands containing highly radioactive thorium are altering the dna sequences of local population of Kerala's Chavara-Neendakara coastal belt -- an area having the world's highest levels of natural radiation. This is the finding of a latest international study. However, the study is silent on the medical implications of the findings. Even medical experts working among the inhabitants of the area describe the study as scientifically interesting but medically insignificant.

Taste that

During recent laboratory experiments, researchers have discovered that mice slathered with caffeine develop fewer skin tumours than untreated animals. This suggests that the chemical that adds zip to coffee also provides protection against skin cancer.

Blocked UV rays cause Vitamin D deficiency

Set immobile

magnetic wood could be a plank in the battle against noisy cellphone users. The material absorbs microwave radio signals, making it impossible to use a mobile phone in any room lined with it. Magnetic wood, so called because it is packed with minute magnetic particles, is the brainchild of Hideo Oka and his colleagues from the Iwate University in Morioka, Japan.

Calling trouble

mobile phone radiation can cause changes in human cells that might affect the brain, indicates a study conducted by Finland's radiation and nuclear safety authority. According to the study, exposure to radiation from mobile phones can cause increased activity in hundreds of proteins in human cells.

Chief culprit

by the 2030s, climate change could become the main factor leading to ozone loss, surpassing even industrial products such as chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs), says a new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (nasa) study.

Dubious diet

Beware of prawns, shrimps, herbs and spices. They could be irradiated. Recently, Britain's Food Standards Agency (fsa) found that a large number of dietary supplements in the uk are irradiated. Irradiation, which exposes eatables to controlled radiation to kill micro-organisms, is a scientifically accepted technique. However, many consumer groups have raised doubts about the safety of such food. The fsa survey indicated that 42 per cent of dietary supplement samples tested were being sold illegally.

Stockpiling safeguards

As a preventive measure, Westchester county near Manhattan in the US will hand out anti-radiation tablets to people living near the Indian Point nuclear power plant. The pills (potassium iodide) are supposed to protect the residents from possible radiation exposure, if an emergency arises. There are growing concerns about Indian Point's two reactors, particularly since February 2000 when there was a radiation leak.

Ringing in heaps of trouble

Radiation from cellular phones is a well-known risk. Now there is another type of pollution from the wireless device which has raised a wave of worry. A study conducted by Inform, an environmental research organisation, says that within three years the us will discard about 130 million cellular telephones a year. This would translate into 65,000 tonnes of trash, including toxic metals which affect health.

Mushrooming ill-effects

radioactive fallout from Cold War nuclear weapons tests throughout the world caused at least 15,000 cancer deaths in the us, revealed a us government study made public recently. The health and human services department study also indicated that 20,000 non-fatal cancers among us residents born after 1951 could be linked to the above-ground weapons tests.