The fifth Conference of Parties (COP) of Stockholm Convention meets on April 25 in Geneva to decide the fate of endosulfan. The Conference of Parties will consider the recommendation of Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) of the Stockholm Convention to enlist Endosulfan and its isomers in Annex A to the Convention, with specific exemption.
Colombo, April 27,2011 Almost every South Asian city today is reeling under severe air pollution and gridlocked urban traffic. Colombo has the advantage of having the sea by its side, but it is still struggling with polluting fuels, outdated vehicle technologies and rising numbers of private vehicles leading to massive congestion.
The POPRC reviews proposals submitted by Parties for listing new chemicals in accordance with Article 8 of the Convention.
The CSE laboratory can monitor the following pollutants in ambient air • Suspended particulate matter • Respirable suspended particulate matter • Nitrogen di-oxide • Sulphur di-oxide
BGIA submission to MP High Court on remediation Short duration discussion on Bhopal Gas Tragedy in Rajya Sabha - 10 Aug '10 Technical Review of NEERI & NGRI Reports First meeting of task force on Bhopal site clean up Second meeting of task force on Bhopal site clean up Fifth meeting of task force on Bhopal site clean up Ninth meeting of task force on Bhopal site clean up Eighteenth meeting of task force on Bhopal site clean up Nineteenth meeting of task force on Bhopal site clean up Ex parte opinion of Dow counsel A M Singhvi Dow Chairman's letter on legacy issues of company Ratan Tata's letter to government on Bhopal remediation fund Report by Defence Research and Development Establishment on Bhopal waste Second report of DRDE on contamination at Bhopal site Third report of DRDE on contamination at Bhopal site Excerpts from Dow's 2008 annual report on UCC asbestos liability CSE note: CPCB report on heavy metals and pesticides in soil sediment at UCIL, Bhopal CPCB findings on contamination at Bhopal site
It is now well recognised across the world that wealth generated by the mining sector comes at a substantial development cost, along with environmental damages and economic exclusion of the marginalised. This has also been exhaustively documented in India. In fact, the major mining districts of India are among its poorest and most polluted. Considering the negative externalities of the mining sector, new policies and practices are being explored and implemented across the world to ensure that mineral wealth can be converted into sustainable development benefits for local communities.
Now Bhopal is a metaphor for disaster, industrial and human. It has been the object of much speculation and typically endless litigation, including the latest travesty of justice.
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 1968 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.
Adopting dual standards is a practice large multi national corporations follow especially when it comes to developing countries. Soft drinks industry is a classic case of this as the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) discovered way back in 2003. A laboratory report prepared by CSE detailed some astonishing facts about the extent of pesticide contamination in soft drinks sold in India.
By H K Dua in the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2011 Train No 339 leaves Abohar every night to reach Bikaner next morning. Over a period of time it has come to be known as “Cancer Train”. This train has acquired the dubious reputation simply because nearly 100 cancer patients travel by it from Punjab to Bikaner for diagnosis and treatment at the Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute.
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? If yes, how do scientists — and the industry — compute it?
We generally take toys for granted but this may no longer be the case atleast not if we are concerned about the health of our young children.