Is UN giving in to industry?

THE UN General Assembly has adopted a watered-down political declaration to reduce the burden of chronic lifestyle diseases. The event signals the beginning of a larger fight between industry and health policy makers.

Side effects of cigarette study

Philip Morris Interna­tional, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, is trying to force a British university to reveal details of its research involving thousands of children aged between 11 and 16 about their attitudes towards smoking and cigarette packaging.

Kick butt via SMS

A new study has found that getting motivational text messages can help smokers quit the habit.

Unholy smoke!

Most readers might find it difficult to credit what follows. This is a story of how bilateral and multilateral investment treaties are being used to satisfy corporate greed, how large corporations, even those in the unsavoury business of selling cigarettes, can sue countries for passing public health laws intended to protect their citizenry from health hazards and killer diseases.

Science And Technology - Briefs

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Oxygen therapy for oil spill

A brush with cancer

PAINTERS and those working in the construction industry are at a risk of developing bladder cancer, according to a report that reviewed the case studies of 3,000 painters with bladder cancer.

Cancer, who cares!

Images of a scorpion and lungs X-ray havent quite succeeded in keeping people away from cigarettes or chewing tobacco (gutka). Some interpret the scorpions image as a new brand, zodiac symbol or a decorative add-on, a survey in Mumbai has found. The lungs X-ray image was construed as waterfall, butterfly and even the small intestine. These findings establish the health ministrys notification to tobacco companies to carry pictorial warnings showing the ill effects of tobacco stand ineffectual.

Shaping genetic inheritance

DIABETES has mostly been considered genetic. Of late, research has proved that the disease can be acquired. People can acquire it because their genes, influenced by external factors, express differently. The changes in expression of genes due to external factors is called epigenetics. It explains why identical twins with the same DNA sequence, have different susceptibilities to a disease.

This is art

British sculptor Antony Gormley's wish to make "truly democratic public art" in London's Trafalgar Square was fulfilled in a spectacular manner on July 6. Gormley had mobilized a cast of amateur artists that included homemakers and plumbers for the show, One and the Other. But he hadn't reckoned for Stuart Holmes. The London resident who has spent 26 years campaigning against actors smoking in films, slipped past four

Fleetingly scary

Film>> Tobacco, Threat to Life and Development directed by Mike Pandey 12 minutes From May 31, it was announced, all tobacco packets would have to bear pictorial warnings on the ill-effects of using tobacco. Mike Pandey released his film, Tobacco, Threat to Life and Development, on that day.