The Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers presented its report on ‘Insecticides and Pesticides – Promotion and Development including Safe Usage – Licensing Regime for Insecticides’ on December 19, 2023. Pesticides are broadly of four types: insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and bio-pesticides. Herbicides kill/control the growth of weeds, and have the …
TWO ISRAELI scientists say by pitting fungus against fungus, they have come up with an environmentally benign pesticide. A B Oppenheim and Ilan Chet of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have found fungal enzymes called chitinases break down newly synthesised chitin, a major component of the cell wall of most …
MORE than 70 new chemicals are registered every hour in the US alone. The public - battered and bemused by daily press reports about the dangers of smoking, pesticides, pollution and food additives - looks to scientists to pronounce on the safety of this rising chemical tide. But the scientists …
FEARING a proposal to withdraw customs duty concessions on pesticides will result in price increases, farmers' organisations in north India are heading for a showdown with the government and pesticide manufacturers. The proposal to end customs concessions relates to certain pesticides that are also produced in India. The farmers contend …
IN JUST two years, India's sesame seed exports have fallen dramatically -- by more than 75 per cent. While the government says this is due to higher prices in the domestic market, oilseed exporters contend it is because residues of banned pesticides have been detected in sesame seeds by importing …
A GERALAN ship carrying a load of the dual-use chemical trimethyl phosphate (TMP) exported from India to Syria is now stuck in Cyprus after Germany refused to allow the cargo to be offloaded for onward shipment. The USA is said to have asked the German authorities to stop the shipment …
THE MEDICINAL and pesticidal properties of neem are beginning to excite interest the world over. In India, medical treatises going back thousands of years indicate that the tree is a rich source of medicinal compounds. The Neem Mission in Pune, set up by the promoter of neem, C M Ketkar, …
C M Ketkar Neem Mission 471 Shanwar Peth Pune 411 030 The Editor Neem Newsletter Division of Agricultural Chemicals Indian Agricultural Research Institute New Delhi 110 012 T S Subramaniam Conference Secretariat World Neem Conference Agricultural Research Centre International Business ITC (Seventh floor) Amrutha Topaz Somajiguda Hyderabad 500 482 Defence …
THE CREDIT for spreading the message of the wondrous properties of the neem goes to Chandrashekhar Mahadeo Ketkar, whose interest in the tree was piqued when he visited the quality control laboratory in Pune of the All India Non-edible Oil Industry Association to get some soil samples analysed. Association secretary …
AND, NOW, it's environmentally conscious fashion designers. Advocating a switch to environmentally friendly cotton with brand names like Green Cotton 2000 and dissuading consumers with posters proclaiming "Danger Cotton", US fashion designers are promoting organically grown cotton in a big way, says Pesticide News (Issue 16, 1992). This has brought …
THE BRITISH public is faced with a grim choice: clean versus cheap water. In a recently released document, The Cost of Quality, Ian Byatt, director general of water services, predicted the cost of water in Britain would double by 2005. He questioned the stringent standards for drinking and bathing water …
Researchers at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ISRISAT) in Hyderabad find Indian farmers obtain lower groundnut yields than African farmers, due to pest damage. Indian farmers spray their crops at least seven times in a season, making it impossible for the prey species to recolonise the …
WHILE contaminated water has occupied centrestage in Udaipur for many years, the Pesticides India plant has been insidiously emitting odorous gases for almost as long. The plant manufactures pesticides, including phorate, all of which are highly toxic. While officials at the plant claim they have taken all possible precautions to …
WHY HAS the National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP) never really been able to contain the disease? The answer may finally be here. The Malaria Research Centre (MRC) in New Delhi has found that Anopheles culicifacies, the mosquito species responsible for 70 per cent of malaria in India and 80 per …
THE Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) has devised now techniques of using fertilisers - through the split application and the deep placement methods and using granules rather than powder - which will prevent the loss of nitrogen into the atmosphere and the water table, and result in higher crop yields …
