In Short

Letters

Silent famine: What exactly changed in India’s wheat and rice?

The crops gained quantity but lost quality in the quest to feed India’s millions

Freedom from toxins: independent laboratories hold the key

Centre for Science and Environment's Pollution Monitoring Lab has been carrying out research in public interest for more than a decade now. …

Pesticide that killed Karnataka devotees has a sordid record in India

Monocrotophos has killed farmers in Maharashtra and school children in Bihar in this decade 

Home they brought the poison

book>> Our toxic world, A guide to hazardous substances in our everyday lives • Script Aniruddha Sen Gupta • Illustrations Priya …

Talking heads

While medics call for more research, government officials dismiss the finding saying "private studies are not enough"

The street fight

Three years have passed since the day we released our first study on pesticides. The government reduced excise duty on soft drinks in this year's …

Wash out

In the guise of making washing easy, detergents are directing a chemical fusillade at the environment in the absence of regulation, discovers …

Molecules of death

Dioxins, which are by-products of industrial processes, are not volatile and are extremely persistent chemicals. They bioaccumulate up the food …

Nanotechnology can make plant-based food preservatives more effective

The formulation can arrest the growth of microbes at lower concentration’ It can also restrict toxin production by preventing the microbe …

After the People met

The Union ministry of home affairs wants to know: what is the Meghalaya government going to do about the 'People's Budget'?

Fungal toxins are widespread in European wheat – threatening human health and the economy

It is likely that changes in farming practices, climate change, and the dwindling effectiveness of fungicides are all contributing factors

Home truths

Most popular paints in India contain high quantities of lead, a toxin especially dangerous to children. The Centre for Science and Environment&…

Toxic Alert

In large doses, cadmium is carcinogenic. A study now shows that even chronic exposure to the heavy metal in low doses causes breast cancer. …

Wheels of pollution

No one is tracking the substantial amount of lead that escapes into the environment from car tyres

Biocontrol Backfires

South American cane toads introduced into Australia to check sugarcane pests have become a menace

Another Kasaragod

Like Kerala’s Kasaragod, neighbouring Dakshina Kannada is bearing the brunt of spraying of endosulfan. While Kasaragod grabbed media …

This gel can protect farmers from toxic pesticides

Researchers at Institute for Stem Cell Science & Regenerative Medicine, Bengaluru, developed poly-Oxime that deactivates toxic chemicals, …

The age of discovery

Research in rice genomics could be the key to eradicating hunger through environmentally sustainable methods, says Latha Rangan

Don’t touch

Half the toys tested have unsafe phthalate levels

These toxic metals make Diwali firecrackers 'beautiful'

From tremors, weakness, anxiety, shortness of breath to paralysis and cancer, the colours in Diwali firecrackers all have a toxic source

World Cancer Day: 'Toxins in the environment are a major problem'

With the rise in the number of cancer cases reported in India every year, prevention and affordable treatment will become critical in battling …

Where reducing waste improved quality

A simple waste minimisation technique at an electroplating plant in Delhi improved the quality of its plating and saved the unit Rs 60,000 annually.

Book review: Toxicity

The Dirty Dozen: Toxic Chemicals and the Earth's Future By Bruce E Johansen (Praeger Publishers, 2003)