CSE

Lead in paints

Modern houses are full of harmful chemicals. One of them is lead, present in paints. Though several countries have banned the use of this substance India is yet to do so, which is why paint makers use them. Inhaling lead dust while performing mundane chores like opening or closing windows is the most common source of lead poisoning. The human body is not designed to process lead. Young children are particularly vulnerable to lead as it can damage the central nervous system and the brain.

Pesticide residues in blood of Punjab farmers

Pesticides are commonly used in India but this comes at great cost to human health. The Centre for Science and Environment decided to investigate the matter and looked at the agricultural heartland of Punjab. It found that  15 different pesticides in the 20 blood samples tested from four villages in Punjab. But what is more important to find out is how much of pesticide in blood is ‘safe’. Does a safety threshold level exist?

Pesticide regulations

Pesticides are widely used in agriculture without paying much heed to the consequences of its unregulated and indiscriminate use . This fact has been known to our policy makers for nearly five decades. The government is atleast under law supposed to regulate its use. The Insecticides Act of 1971 is a key piece of legislation that is supposed to govern the use, manufacture, distribution, sale and transport of insecticides with a view to lowering risks to human and animal health. In practice this is rarely the case as the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) discovered nearly a decade ago.

Trans fat in oils

Oil is essential for our body to function. But that does not mean that we should take for granted the cooking mediums we use in our food. As the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) laboratory report recently discovered our branded edible oils are full of unhealthy trans fats. The results showed trans fats in seven leading vanaspati brands were five to 12 times the 2 per cent standard set by Denmark. Trans fats are formed during the process of addition of hydrogen atoms to oils, a process industry prefers as it keeps the oil from turning rancid and ensures a longer shelf life.

Mercury: Heavy Toxin

Mercury is a very toxic and dangerous substance. It is  poisonous in all forms - inorganic, organic or elemental. Mercury is a proven neurotoxin. Inhaling mercury vapours can severely damage the respiratory tract. Sore throat, coughing, pain or tightness in the chest, headache, muscle weakness, anorexia, gastrointestinal disturbance, fever, bronchitis and pneumonitis are symptoms of mercury toxicity. Health concerns should be reason enough for us to properly manage its imports and disposal. On the contrary, mercury has come to severely contaminate land, water, air and the food chain throughout India.

Technical advice for planning and designing rainwater harvesting

Capturing Rainwater

A way to augment Chandigarh’s water resources

CSE has submitted a report on city wide rainwater harvesting for Chandigarh as a part of its work as Centre Of Excellence under the Ministry of Urban Development. Chandigarh does not have any surface water source and there is a steep decline in the groundwater levels in the city. The city has very few options for sourcing water, recharging the confined aquifers from where water is being tapped becomes a necessity. Every summer, newspaper reports quote residents residing on the second and third floors in the southern sectors of the city complaining about the shortage of drinking water.

Wastewater recycling

The wastewater recycling system at CSE has been designed to treat 8000 litres per day based on the assumption that at any given moment at least a 100 persons would be ocupying the premises. The components involved in treatment are a settler, a baffled reactor and a planted filter.

The treated wastewater is stored in an underground sump. This water is used for gardening.

Old Mirrors Traditional Ponds of Kolkata

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has come up with a book on ponds of  Kolkata called "Old Mirrors-Traditional ponds of Kolkata" in the begining of this year. The author of the book is Mohit Ray. Ray is the founder director of a Kolkata based non profit organization, Vasundhara. He has documented 48 ponds of Kolkata. The age of some ponds is 250 years and 24 of them are 200-300 years old.  He had studies all the 48 ponds in details. He gave an elaborate history of the ponds and along with that he researched out the present conditions of these water bodies.

Environmentalists fighting to save the Ousteri lake

Ousteri lake (Osudu lake) is one of the examples in the history of deterioration of wetlands where a long wait for the final judgment is taking the lake towards a slow death process.