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 …
The fruit the humble eat in India is probably made of better stuff than those eaten by the high and mighty. It seems clear, on the evidence, that exotic imported fruit could have a greater and more varied pesticide content that those grown in our backyards. The reason is that …
The bedrock of southern Punjab has high concentration of the carcinogenic elements uranium and thorium. A recent study blames the high rates of cancer in this region on this phenomenon. A report to this effect was submitted to the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (pscst) in Chandigarh recently. …
Exposure to pesticides lowers the intelligence quotient (IQ) of children, claims a US study. Conducted by researchers from the University of North Dakota (UND) in the US, the study examined two groups of 64 children each, aged 7-12 years. One group comprised of children living on or near farms and …
a division Bench of Kerala High Court has once again directed the state government to conduct another epidemiological study in the cashew plantation areas in Kerala and trace out the factors responsible for health problems in areas such as Padre and Cheemeni in Kasaragod district. The areas were badly affected …
This paper discussed the distribution of pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals in water, sediment and prawn from intensive prawn ponds (n = 8) near the Kolleru lake wetland, India and assessed the quality of prawn for human consumption and also discussed the possible effects of these pollutants …
Take the pesticide problem. Although cotton occupies only 5 per cent of India's agricultural land, it accounts for 54 per cent of pesticide use. Andhra Pradesh cotton growers use more than 30 per cent of the country's pesticides and almost 70 per cent of pesticides used for growing cotton. "Since …
amphibians are fast disappearing and at least one-third of the known species of frogs, toads, salamanders and caecilians, are endangered. Though climate change, pollution and disease have been usually blamed, strong evidence has emerged implicating pesticides for threatening reproduction and development in amphibians. Now, a team of scientists in the …
One of the significant areas in which pesticide residue analysis differs significantly from macro-analysis is that of contamination and interference. Trace amounts of contamination in the final samples used for the determination stage of the method can give rise to errors such as false positive or false negative results or …
Local Area Environment committee under the term of reference was asked to conduct an environmental audit of 247 industries located in Eloor-Edayar industrial belt and report the effect on the ecology, environment and on the health of the local population with the specific reference to the study of raw materials, …
an organic diet given to children provides a "dramatic and immediate protective effect' against exposures to two common organophosphorus (op) pesticides
The inspiration behind Mark Twain's fable, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County', may be facing a serious threat to its existence. A federal judge in San Francisco has asked the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate if 66 pesticides commonly used in agriculture are endangering the California red-legged …
methoxychlor (mxc), a common pesticide used on food crops, may reduce fertility in women, claim researchers at the Yale School of Medicine, the us. They found mxc suppressed expression of Hoxa10
a team of Dutch and Israeli scientists has genetically engineered a plant to produce a scent that attracts protective insects. The idea could help plant breeders select crops producing high amounts of such smells, thereby reducing the need for pesticides. Many plants emit scents as an sos signal to attract …
Pesticide companies in Pakistan are experiencing rough weather. The agriculture department of Sindh province recently decided to not register any pesticide product until it is certified to be environmentally safe, with no hazardous effect on humans and animals. The Sindh Pesticides Standarisation Committee said the environmental impact assessment of pesticides …
the National Human Rights Commission (nhrc) recently issued a notice to Andhra Pradesh (ap) chief secretary on a complaint that chemical pesticides had threatened the right to life of farmers and agricultural workers. G V Ramanjaneyulu and Kavitaa Kuruganti of Secunderabad - based Centre for Sustainable Agriculture were the complainants. …
Over 90 per cent of us residents carry a cocktail of pesticides in them, according to the Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals released by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc) on July 21, 2005. The cdc bio-monitoring program tested the blood and urine of …
the chairperson of a government committee mandated to look into Kerala's endosulfan tragedy suppressed all dissenting voices within the committee to give a clean chit to the pesticide. A look at the final report of the Dubey committee, submitted in March 2003 and kept away from public scrutiny (marked "for …
