BENIGN REGULATIONS: Go green and
mint money: this is the message
that Allied Colloids, a Bradford-
based chemical
company has been
conveying to other
industrial houses in
the UK. In a joint
study with the
Inspectorate of
Pollution, it endeavours to prove
that regula@ons imposed on industry,
to cut pollution hav4provided an
unexpected bonus.,51re adopting of
pollution-control measures has actually led to spvings of millions of
pounds because the greener processes are cheaper, claims the report.
Colloids, for example, has been able
to save f,300,000 a year for a one-off
investment of f 100,000.
LIGHTING THE WAY: Microbics
Corporation of California, US, has
not forgotten the lessons of the Gulf
war. It has developed a new kit for
testing water, using a bio-luminescent bacterium which was widely
used during the war in 1991. it
involve 's adding freeze-dried bacteria
to a water sample. If the amount of
light produced after a few minutes is
lower than normal, it may be an indicator of toxicity.
REVOLUTIONISING THERAPY: The
Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited has achieved a
significant breakthrough in its
anti-cancer and anti-diabetic programmes. The research to modify the
camptothecin molecule in the case
of cancer and troglitazone in the
case of diabetes has
finally paid off.
After its modification, camptothecirl
has been found to be more effective
in treating renal and breast cancers. Troglitazone
has also been modified and
been found capable of reducing
over 70 per cent of the triglycide
contents which are responsible for diabetes.
PIONEERS IN PHARAOH-LAND: Its quest
for profits has taken the Bodinayakanur (Madurai)-based Anubhav
Plantations Limited all the way to
Egypt, making it the first Indian
company to involve itself in the scientific cultivation of teak. About 810
ha of land near the Aswan dam has
en earmarked for teak plantations
ahd logging. Anubhav Plantations
has created a new subsidiary, Anubhav Agro-Cairo Ltd to oversee the
US $17 million project. According to
C Natesan, Anubhav's chairperson,
the firm has also been approached by the Standard Bank of England to cultivate teak in 20,000 ha at Guyana in Africa.
PORTABLE LEAPS:Japan's Nippon
Telegraph & Telephone and Sony
Corp have made up their minds to
link their lot with AT&T to develop a
special brand of portable computers
for the Japanese market. The product
will be launched by a
new joint venture,
NTT FAN Inc. The
system will provide
the user with the
option of using a
conventional telephone hookup, but will also give him
the freedom of being able to use the
machine where no telephone lines
are available.
A BETTER USE: An exhausted iron-ore
mine in Sanquelim, Goa, is coming in
handy for planting medicinal and
endangered plant species. Taken up
by the Sesa Goa mining company, the
used mine will ultimately be converted into a botanical garden. The comparry has grown trees like acacia
(which protects the soil from erosion), cashew, jackfruit, coconut
banana and mango, which are being
irrigated from a mining pit also
used for pisciculture. Sesa Goa's
nursery, set up in 1982, accounts for
80 per cent of the species planted
at mine sites today. It also has plans
to plant 2.2 lakh saplings at other
mining areas during the current
monsoon season.
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