Feature Article

Carbon suckers

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011

MANGROVES are known to be reservoirs of carbon. While it is known that widespread degradation of the mangroves by 30-50 per cent over the past half century due to coastal development, aquaculture expansion and over-harvesting may be responsible for an increase in carbon in the atmosphere, nobody has been able to tell how much.

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Drug ban saves vultures

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011

BAN ON the drug diclofenac, administered on domestic animals, has had a positive impact on the vulture population. It had not been quantified till recently.

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Climate change hits food production

THERE have been many indicators that global warming could be hurting the world food production, lowering yields and increasing prices. Turns out the warming of the planet over the past three decades has already led to a measurable reduction in crop production of wheat and maize.

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011
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Only one people

The biggest problem with the Rio conference has been its petty-mindedness. It has consistently refused to look into the basic processes that lead to environmental destruction. The world’s political leaders have shown great fear of the economic and political restructuring that such an approach would demand.

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011
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Ethics on trial

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011

Nine-year-old Rani is unhappy. She has to stay away from her mother Janki Patel, who is taking part in a clinical trial at a centre 10 kilometres from her house at Bapu Nagar in Ahmedabad. “I do not like these trials. They take my parents away,” says Rani.

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Bill shows the way

To tighten regulations around clinical trials, a bill was drafted in 2002. Framed as per the guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), it was submitted to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2007 to be tabled in Parliament. But it has seen no progress ever since.

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011
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No one liable for trial mishap

What if a participant dies during a clinical trial? ICMR guidelines clearly mention that a participant must be insured for injuries and deaths. They bind ethics committees to review insurance documents before giving approval for the trial. Contract Research Organisations (CROs) and pharmaceutical companies say they ensure that participants are compensated in case of adverse events. Ground reality, however, is different.

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011
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Betrayal via bamboo

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011

In April this year, Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra made history. One of its villages became the country’s first to win the right to sell and harvest bamboo. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh handed over transit pass books to residents of Mendha Lekha village, allowing them to exercise community forest rights over bamboo guaranteed in the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006. But for the rest of the villages bamboo is still a distant dream.

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Pay and take

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011




A High Powered Committee set up by the Central government has suggested that allocation of natural resources should go to the highest bidder.

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New cancer risk

For years the World Health Organization (WHO) maintained that radiation from cell phones is generally safe. But on May 31, it changed its stand and announced that cell phones pose a possible cancer risk.

Jun 30, 2011
Publication Date: 
30/06/2011
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