Burglar in the brain

LEAD poisoning is one of the oldest occupational and environmental hazards.

High exposure, no risk

New evidence says that all radiations do not lead to cancer

Chemical sours mother's milk

Pollutant keeps the iodine in breast milk from babies

Female bias?

Environment can lead to a skewed male to female ratio environment can influence the ratio of males to females in plants as well as in human beings, say studies done by two different teams of scientists. In case of plants, it is an aspect of demography balancing the population. For us, it is an environmental effect whose cause can be traced back to our activities.

Pollution zone

Plants spell out air pollution in Varanasi

Ailments caused due to environmental factors

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Cholera epidemic in Angola on the rise

With nine deaths on May 23, the toll in a cholera epidemic in Angola has gone up to 1,374 , according to who. The outbreak was declared in mid-February this year. Official reports say 38,422 cases have been reported and 12 of Angola's 18 provinces affected. The main cause for the outbreak is said to be poor hygiene, lack of potable water and environmental pollution. The onset of the rainy season has worsened the situation.

Is it all grey?

Every year Indian thermal power plants (TPPs) spew out 100 million tonnes of flyash, a grey outpour soon expected to reach 175 million tonnes. According to current estimates nearly one lakh hectares (ha) of land in India is taken up by ash ponds. Bad news for the environment. For, most of the flyash is disposed off in ash ponds, from where it contaminates both surface water and groundwater.

Toxic fallout

INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH . November . 2002

Data-wise

The Union ministry of environment and forests recently held a symposium on environmental health. Sadly, nothing emerged from the initiative, well-intended though it might have been. Here was an opportunity to meet the challenge posed by the double burden of diseases and a deteriorating environment by involving our medical community - doctors, epidemiologists and health specialists. Instead, a routine round of meetings considered models from home and abroad. Period.