Feature Article

Following the suggestions of a recent National Research Council

The association of particulate matter (PM) with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is well documented. PM-induced ischemia is considered a potential mechanism linking PM to adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

Going by the text of the National Biotechnology Regulatory Bill 2008, the government of India and specifically, the department of biotechnology (DBT), have a clear disdain for the need to conserve biodiversity, or allow state governments to exercise their constitutional rights over their agriculture. (Letter)

Are there public health consequences when regulators turn a blind eye to cross border advertising that contravenes national laws? Although Canada prohibits direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs, no steps are taken to prevent US advertising from reaching the Canadian public. The linked study by Law and colleagues (doi: 10.1136/bmj.a1055), provides compelling evidence that this does have consequences for public health and of the need for better regulatory oversight. (Editorial)

Modern humans may have started eliminating other species right from the start: our ancestors stand accused of wiping out megafauna - from giant flightless birds in Australia to mammoths in Asia and the ground sloth of North America - as they spread across the planet. Even so, by around 6000 years ago there were only about 12 million people on Earth - less than a quarter of the current population of Great Britain. That's a far cry from today's 6.6 billion, many of us guzzling fossil fuels, churning out greenhouse gases and messing with our planet's climate like there's no tomorrow.

How fast will our coastlines be swallowed up by rising sea levels?

Companiese that advertise prescription drugs directly to consumers may not get as much bang for their buck as they - or their critics - assume. Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of drugs is only permitted in the US and New Zealand and has long been controversial. Both proponents and opponents assume the ads increase prescriptions, with the former arguing they benefit society by raising awareness of diseases and available treatments and the latter that they pump up demand for drugs unnecessarily.

The overflowing Kosi had, as of end-August, wreaked destruction on more than three million people living in north and east Bihar. A field visit reports on the misery of the affected, haphazard rescue efforts and criminal exploitation of the uprooted. The immediate task is to improve relief operations and then provide support to the displaced who will not be able to find work until the 2009 kharif season. A blame game is now in operation, but since the early 1960s whichever the party in power, the people of Bihar have been affected by official apathy towards the embankments on the Kosi.

India

COULD the mystery over how depleted uranium might cause genetic damage be closer to being solved? It may be, if a controversial claim by two researchers is right. They say that minute quantities of the material lodged in the body may kick out energetic electrons that mimic the effect of beta radiation. This, they argue, could explain how residues of depleted uranium scattered across former war zones could be increasing the risk of cancers and other problems among soldiers and local people.