Toxic fumes leave 23 in hospital
Four of 23 people rushed to hospital after exposure to toxic fumes were under intensive care yesterday. Hundreds of students were evacuated from two Phra Pradaeng schools in Thailand after fumes wafted across the Chao Phraya River from a plastics plant. Local police said the Siri Vitthaya and Bangchak Vitthaya …
Cipla beats Glaxo in race for anti-AIDS drug
The Rs 541-crore Cipla has introduced its indigenously developed anti-AIDS drug, lamivudine, in both the domestic and overseas market at less than half the prevailing global prices. Cipla's early entry is significant given that original patent holder Glaxo is yet to hit the Indian market with its lamivudine brand.
New norms for rural drinking water projects
The Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment has issued new guidelines for submission projects under the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM) seeking to speed up the provision of sustainable safe drinking water to the entire rural population.
New irrigation project planned
While the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal still remains an abandoned child, Punjab has conceived the Dasmesh irrigation project. This is not entirely a new conception. It is a revised, renamed and updated version of state-III of the SYL project. Due to militant activities, the work on the SYL project stopped …
100 bio-safety committees set up
The department of bio-technology (DBT) has set up as many as 100 bio-safety committees in all institutions engaged in bio-technological research in the country, said Manju Sharma, secretary, DBT. Sharma, who was inaugurating a two-day workshop on 'Bio-safety Issues Emanating from use of genetically modified organisms' in New Delhi on …
Embryo process may aid brain disease sufferers
Brain cells from newly aborted human foetuses may soon become unnecessary in tranplant operations to treat illnesses such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's chorea. The British Association meeting being held in Cardiff heard about a new process that allows neural transplant tissue to be grown indefinitely from a single embryo. …
A cancer dilemma
A nod of approval from a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee means that tamoxifen, a powerful drug now given to some women to prevent a recurrence of breast cancer, may soon become the first such drug given to women who have not had breast cancer, in order to …
Now a first line of defence against chemical hazards
One of the promises of the industrial age has been "better living through chemistry." Most of the 100,000 chemicals and pesticides currently in the world market have indeed helped to improve our lives. At the same time, accidents and misuse have poisoned the environment and injured or killed many thousands …
Silent night therapy
People with severe snoring problems sleep better and feel more rested after radio wave energy is used to shrink their soft palate tissue, a doctor has reported. In the treatment, a doctor inserts a probe into the back of the roof of the mouth and aims energy into the palate. …
Dropsy deaths could have been avoided
Had the Delhi Government acted on the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report, critising the Prevention of food adulteration (PFA) department, many dropsy deaths could have been prevented. The report, which was placed in the Delhi assembly during the April session, says, "They (the PFA) did not prescribe norms for …
AIDS situation grim in Assam
The AIDS situation in the state has been grim with 14 deaths and 27 positive AIDS cases detected till April 30 this year throughout the state. Assam now stands next to Manipur in this regard in the north-eatern region with 301 AIDS cases and 94 deaths recorded during this period …
Alarming rise of AIDS cases in western M P
AIDS, the most dreaded disease of the last few decades has established its roots in Western Madhya Pradesh at an alarming rate. Even though the entire State is in the grip of the disease, the western part is particularly more affected because of the rise in flesh trade and blood …
Govt warns of measles epidemic next year
Measles cases are showing a sharp increase in the country. The government, in a note, has warned that large-scale outbreak of the disease may occur next year, if immmediate steps are not taken. The number of measles cases reported in 1995 was 31,397 . By 1997, however,the figure had almost …
UK 'enjoys biggest cut' in deaths from smoking
Britain leads the world in cutting deaths from smoking, the British Association's annual science conference in Cardiff heard. Richard Peto, professor of medical statistics at Oxford University, presented an analysis of premature deaths. It shows that over the past 25 years, the number of people in the UK dying between …
BSE expert warns disease may be present in sheep
The UK government was facing the possibility of a new health scare following remarks by an expert on BSE that the disease could be present in sheep. Professor Geoffrey Almond, chairman of the sheep sub-committee of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, the BSE watchdog said: "There is a distinct possibility …
Manila posts dengue fever toll
At least 202 people have died in the Philippines of dengue fever, and more than 11,200 other have been hospitalized with the disease in the first eight months of this year, the Department of Health said.
Hospital runs out of blood screening kit
The government blood bank in Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in the Capital is not functioning for the past 20 days allegedly due to the non-availability of blood screening kit.
60,000 lts adulterated oil in market
In an alarming disclosure, Godhra district collector A K Rakesh said around 60,000 litres of groundnut oil adulterated with Argemone mexicana had made it to the market in the Vadodara (Gujarat) district. A red-alert has been sounded in the district and panic has gripped the area as the oil has …
WHO chief wants health sector on development agenda
The WHO Director General, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, today called on the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, and made out a cause for placing health at the core of the development agenda. The WHO chief particularly urged that the Government's financing should give a thrust to provide for a uniform …
