Non-iodised salt banned
The government on Wednesday imposed a ban on sale, possession or consumption of non-iodised salt. An official notification, amending the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, prohibits any person from selling or offering or keeping in his premises common salt for direct human consumption unless it is iodised.
Global campaign against swollen arms disease
Research and drug trials in India have led to the launch of a global campaign aginst lymphatic filariasis whose victims with swollen arms and legs are commonly seen in parts of the country. About one-third of people with this infection live in India.
AIDS spreading in Manipur
Dreaded AIDS was now spreading to general population through unprotected sexual contacts in Manipur, official sources said in Imphal.
Success on swine fever in Germany
Steps to contain the outbreak of classical swine fever in Lower Saxony, Germany, appear to have succeeded and officials have lifted most of the movement restrictions in the area.
SmithKline & WHO join hands to eliminate elephantiasis
Smithkline Beecham (SB) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are to work together to eliminate lymnphatic dilariasis, which often leads to elephantiasis --one of the world's worst disfiguring and disabling tropical disease. It effects 40 million people in India making the country home to a third of the world's victims …
Meet on medicinal plants in Bangalore
A four-day conference on medicinal plants will begin here on Febraury 16. The conference will focus on conservation of medicinal plants, intellectual property rights and bio-prospecting, the trade in medicinal plants and the traditional medicinal industry. The conference will prepare guidelines for global policies and action plans for conservation of …
Environmentalists to save shrinking Bhutanese lake
Bhutanese environmentalists are trying to save a lake, the shrinking of which local people believe would spell disaster for their community. The Shadilutso lake in the central part of the country is eulogised in Bhutanese folklore for bringing prosperity. A part of the lake, which once had a circumference of …
Company will donate drug to fight disfiguring disease
SmithKline Beecham announced that the huge pharmaceutical company will provide an anti-parasitic drug free to about one fifth of the world's population in an effort to eliminate the grossly disfiguring disease known as elephantiasis. The program will require giving people of entire geographical regions once a year doses of the …
Doctors to contest for health care
City doctors have formed a Political Affairs Committee (PAC) to educate and persuade politicians to adopt a people-friendly approach. The PAC will also try to highlight health issues which have been neglected by politicians.
Global meet on medicinal plants
A global conference being held in Bangalore next month is expected to frame international guidelines for the conservation and non-destructive use of medicinal plants. The conference comes exactly ten years after the Thai conference hosted by the World Conservation Organisation (IUCN), WHO and others, Dr. Darshan Shankar, Director of the …
Kolleru lake in AP facing eco threat
The scenic Kolleru lake, one of the few largest freshwater inland lakes in the world, is fast becoming extinct, endangering a rich variety of animal and plant species, due to indiscriminate exploitation and encroachment of the water body.
Blatant branding, sly testing more killing than AIDS
The Government may have been quick in recognising the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India(already 11 years old), but its response to victims is still a sorry tale of repression. At the recent National Workshop of NGOs on HIV/AIDS in the Capital, participants were horrified by a Maharashtra Government …
Mutant virus fears as fever kills hundreds
Experts have confirmed the spread of a deadly haemorragic fever, that has already killed hundreds of people in north-eastern Kenya, to areas within 100 miles of the capital, Nairobi.
Glaucoma tests neglected by many
Ignorance and misinformation about glaucoma and its treatment is threatening eyesight of millions of people. A national survey conducted for the Glaucoma Research Foundation has revealed widespread ignorance of the risk factors for this leading cause of blindness.
Exercise for your brain
Exercise is good for the brain as well as the body and may even protect it against the ravages of old age, U.S. researchers say. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee showed that the benefits of exercise were not limited to the young by testing the brains of …
How the dinosaurs died in the Gobi desert
In trying to figure out why the Gobi Desert of Mongolia holds so many well preserved dinosaur fossils, paleontologists usually relied on their own experience. Now geologists have taken a closer look and come up with a different explanation. Their detailed examination of Gobi sandstones has produced striking evidence that …
Clue found to prevent off first heart attacks
Daily doses of aspirin and the blood thinner warfarin can reduce the incidence of first heart attacks by more than a third among men who are at high risk of heart disease, British researchers report.
Mutant virus fears as fever kills hundreds
Experts have confirmed the spread of a deadly haemorragic fever, that has already killed hundreds of people in north-eastern Kenya, to areas within 100 miles of the capital, Nairobi.Five deaths from the disease, diagnosed as Rift Valley Fever, have been reported in Magadi in Kajiado district, south of Nairobi and …
Lifetime hazards of early drinking
Children who begin drinking regularly by age 13 are more than four times as likely to become alcoholics as those who delay consuming alcohol until age 21 or older, according to a study by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
