-The United Nations More than a decade after it was classified as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans,’ the UN health agency today classified Diesel engine exhaust as ‘carcinogenic to humans.’   The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), announced the re-classification today, after a week-long meeting of international experts, and based its decision on sufficient evidence that exposure is associated with an increased risk...

Johannesburg, June 13 (ANI): The World Health Organisation's (WHO) cancer research agency classified Diesel engine exhaust as cancer-causing on Tuesday, and urged action to reduce human exposure to it. In 1988, the IARC had classified Diesel exhaust as "probably" carcinogenic. "Diesel engine exhaust causes lung cancer in humans," News24 quoted Christopher Portier, chair of a working group at the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), as saying.   The UN body said...

Finance ministry asks automobile sector to submit a report on the impact of such a move within a week’s time The government appears to have made up its mind to increase excise duty on Diesel cars to neutralize the advantage of the state subsidy that has prompted motorists to increasingly favour vehicles powered by the fuel that’s Rs.30 a litre cheaper at the pump than petrol. Indications that the government is leaning...

A day after the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was considering an increase in excise duty on Diesel cars, a consensus seems to be building within the government, with the oil ministry supporting the move. Following this, key stakeholders involved in taking a decision on increasing excise duty on Diesel vehicles are likely to meet on Wednesday, according to three people, including a top...

Desired outcomes can be reached through a series of ‘imperfect’ small initiatives What is to be done? How can we untie the Gordian knot that has so entangled the political economy of petroleum product prices? This is the question that now exercises our most experienced politicians and our ablest economists. Most well informed people know that a country that imports 80 per cent of its oil requirements cannot de-link itself from the...