Governments here and abroad are watching India's stand on Endosulfan at the sixth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants' Review Committee (POPRC) of the Stockholm Convention that began in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday. While most of the governments represented at the Stockholm Convention are taking stands in favour of a global ban on Endosulfan, India is opposing it. The Kerala government has demanded a ban on the pesticide with Chief Minister...

Dibrugarh: Over a hundred birds died of suspected Pesticide Poisoning in a tea estate at Moran in Dibrugarh today. Forest officials said samples of the dead birds would be sent to the forensic laboratory for tests to ascertain the cause. Today’s deaths at Tiloijan tea estate comes close on the heels of migratory birds dying inside Kaziranga National Park on Thursday. Tea workers and people living in and around the...

High levels of toxic chemicals are still found in Bhopal's drinking water, a new report published ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy, said. Residents in the areas surveyed have high rates of birth defects, rapidly rising cancer rates, neurological damage, chaotic menstrual cycles and mental illness, it said. The report also questions the reliability of the tests carried out in at the AES Laboratories in New Delhi. The...

KEY TRENDS  • The eight leading cause-groups of deaths in 2008 based on Medical Certification of Cause of Death are: 1. Diseases of the Circulatory System; 2. Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases; 3. Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes; 4. Diseases of the Respiratory System; 5. Certain Conditions Originating in the Perinatal Period; 6. Neoplasm (C00-D48); 7. Endocrine, Nutritional, Metabolic Diseases; and 8. Symptoms, Sign and Abnormal Clinical...