EXPOSURE to organic pollutants can disrupt the formation of nervous system in a foetus. This in turn may lead to neural tube defects. The disease affects over 320,000 infants worldwide every year. Earlier studies have linked organic pollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), from indoor coal stoves, smoking and vehicle …
AFTER imposing a ban on endosulfan, the Supreme Court is now examining the possibility of allowing export of the pesticide. On August 5, the court-appointed joint committee was given a three-week deadline to submit an interim report on the possibility of exporting and disposing of the endosulfan stocks with the …
AUTISM is one of the few developmental disabilities the cause and cure of which remain elusive even 50 years after it was identified. There is no biological test to detect this lifelong disorder until it manifests at the age of around two. Diagnosis is largely based on behavioural and psychological …
THE Supreme Court has turned down the request of pesticide manufacturers to allow them to export the pesticide stocks in India. The court had banned the sale, manufacture, use and export of the pesticide on May 13 on a petition by the youth wing of the CPI(M), the Democratic Youth …
Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is rooting for endosulfan just before the fifth Conference of Parties (COP) of the Stockholm Convention meets in Geneva India softens its stand on endosulfan Day 5- April 29: The last day of the Stockholm Convention, ushered some good news for all those crusading against …
Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in December announced that his government would consider banning endosulfan. The highly toxic pesticide is banned in over 70 countries. The assurance has come too late and is too little for the hundreds of people in Dakshina Kannada district, like Santosh Menzes, who are …
It is called the mango city. But of late, Muthalamada panchayat in Kerala’s Palakkad district has gained notoriety for excessive use of endosulfan in its mango orchards. Its effect is showing on people living there. When seven-year-old Sharanya was born, her parents Rukmini and Chandran were relieved the baby was …
CHIEF minister of Kerala V S Achuthanandan on November 23 announced a relief package for the victims of endosulfan in Kasaragod district. The package includes free ration, pension, a loan waiver, housing and drinking water supply, rehabilitation, training and employment for the 2,210 victims of endosulfan exposure. At a high-level …
Describe your findings. When cells divide, they require specialised proteins called microtubules arranged in an American football-shaped spindle. Microtubules divide DNA in two equal parts by pulling them apart with the help of a special organelle, called centrosome. Egg cells lack this organelle. We filmed egg cell divisions to understand …
On July 15, 1962, a Washington Post story, ‘Heroine of FDA keeps bad drug off market,’ shocked Americans. The heroine in question was Frances Oldham Kelsey. She had joined the US Food and Drug Administration two years earlier as a drug application investigator. With her expertise in pharmacology, she was …
Controversy surrounding the true toll and disease burden caused by fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 has resurfaced following the release of a new study.
