QUITE A SAVING: Those suffering
from skin cancer will now have to dish out less money for their medical
bills. Scientists from the Cancer
Research Campaign in Britain have
invented a light emission device
called Paterson Lamp that cures the
disease at a lOth of the price of laser
therapy. The lamp sends out an
intense beam of light which kills cancer cells with the aid of a light sensitive cream. The success rate of the
device has been fiXed at between 80
and 100 per cent. The product is
expected to cost between US $15,000
to US $225,000.
HERBS FOR HEALTH: Cashing in on the
growing demand for herbal products, the Calcutta-based UB Group
company, Carew Pharmaceuticals
will shortly launch two new herbal
health products -UB Fit, a
chyawanprash-based toffee for
inducing strength and UB Balm, an
analgesic balm for relieving aches.
Each toffee would be priced at
Rs 1.60. The UB balm has an organic
base, unlike other balms which
depend on petroleum jelly. It is a
non-greasy, non-staining preparation which nourishes, soothes and
cools the affected skin besides being
absorbed by it.
GAS GAINS: Japan's Mitsui & Co, Total
SA of France and Unocal Corp of the
US have made a joint venture pact
with the Burmese government for
Burma's US $700
million Yadana gas
field. The consortium will carry out
a project for the
commercial and
industrial use of
natural gas produced from the offshore Yadana
field. The project involves building a
250-km pipeline from the Yadana
field, which will connect it to a proposed 200,000 KW power plant.
OZONE OPTION: India has taken
a major step forward towards
eliminating the use of ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
in refrigerators. Mumbai-based
Godrej-GE Appliances Ltd recently
launched the first Indian-made
refrigerator free of CFCs. The company has installed pilot foaming
facilities at its plant in Vikhroli
near Mumbai under the 'Ecofrig'
project, which aims at phasing out
the use of CFCs by the year 2010.
According to the managing director
of Godrej-GE, V M Crishna, the
refrigerator that rolled out recently
was 100 per cent free of CFCs both
on the refrigerant and the insulation
side.
MEGA MOVES: In a move to reinforce
their reign on top, Japan's computer-
chip giants, NEC Corp and
Mitsubishi Electric Carp have invested large sums in
making the most
advanced memory
chips. The NEC
plans would spend
about us $1.86 billion over 10 years
on high-precision
semiconductor-processing technology. Mitsubishi will spend us $0.28
billion to increase the production
of its 64-megabit dynamic randomaccess memory chips. The companies
would cater to the demands of
the growing computer, satellite-
television and digital-videodisk
industries.
FIGHTING THE FUNGUS: Mumbai-based
Sandoz India has introduced Lamisil
for treating a wide range of skin, nail
and hair infections. Compared to
conventional anti-fungals, the new
drug offers higher cure rates, shorter
treatment periods and lower relapse
rates. Lamisil cures more effectively,
as the drug directly kills fungi rather
than just curtail their growth. It is
being sold in the form of a tablet as
well as a cream and is particularly
effective against onychomycosis, a
fungal infection affecting nails.
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