Newsletter

Home mulls over Plachimada Tribunal Bill

The victims of groundwater depletion and environmental pollution at Plachimada, Kerala, caused by the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverage Company, will have to wait longer. The Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill 2011 is still with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) while it should have been on its way for presidential assent to make it an Act.

Endosulfan exports allowed

Nationwide ban to continue

Bhopal's Dilemma

No incineration of toxic waste in Nagpur

Ban Amendment gains entry into force

178 countries agree to ban exports of toxic wastes to developing countries

The Environment Health Bulletin - October, 2011

Coca-Cola sends legal notice to Centre

Questions validity of Plachimada tribunal bill under its consideration

The Plachimada tribunal bill that was making no progress at the Centre has received yet another setback. The Union home ministry, which was coordinating with other Central ministries—law, environment and forests, agriculture—for feedback on the bill, received legal opinion from the counsels of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd, questioning the validity of the bill that was passed by the Kerala legislature.

India gets its new Food Law

Still a long way to go

The Food Safety and Standards Act,2006 became operational on August 5, 2011. The Act was passed in 2006 and the Food Safety and Standards Authority was set up in 2008 but the Act wasn't completely operational.

Bird Flu strikes again

Assam on high alert

This time it is Assam. Nearly 200 birds have been culled in Agomoni, Pokalagi, Jhapsabari, Kherbari, Supaikuti and Bhamundanga under Golokganj police station of Dhubri district, in September alone.

The scare came to light when one of 300 specimens of dead birds, sent to Bhopal for a test, was confirmed with bird flu. The district administration swung into action and issued a ban on the sale of the birds in the market and an awareness campaign was launched.

USDA to expand E coli tests

Brings Poultry under scanner

The US Department of Agriculture will move to the next level to ensure the safety of the public from E. coli related food borne illness, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on September 13.

Vilsack said that there will be addition of six serogroups of non-O157:H7 shiga-toxin producing E. coli (nSTEC) that will be considered adulterants, in non-intact raw beef, including ground beef and tenderized steaks.

Bayer finally withdraws Class I Pesticides

Success for environmental groups

Bayer CropScience announced on September 16 that it will withdraw all the WHO Class I pesticides. This phase out will be completed by the end of 2012. This announcement has been welcomed by the environmental groups that had been asking Bayer for long to phase out the toxic pesticides.