Indian cardiologists have produced what they say is the first evidence to show that chewing tobacco can constrict the blood vessels of the heart within minutes and possibly raise the risk of heart attacks. Their study on men who volunteered to chew a single gram of tobacco while having their hearts monitored has revealed significant reductions in the diameters of coronary arteries within 10 minutes after they began chewing. The cardiologists from...

Health activists and non-government organisation working against tobacco abuse, Health Related Information Dissemination Among Youth (HRIDAY), have written to Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, urging her to support the timely implementation of strong and effective pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packages. “The current pictorial health warnings in India are extremely mild and ineffective to communicate the hazardous health effects of tobacco use. Since the Department...

Three pronouncements made on three consecutive days this month by the Supreme Court of India have brought relief to different groups of economically and socially deprived people. The beneficiaries include children sold out by poor parents to work in circuses as child labour; young men and women determined to get married crossing caste barriers and harassed for that very reason by ‘khap panchayats'; and the hungry poor across the country...

Government to promote its use to tackle anaemia Food Department to examine the possibility of supplying DFS through PDS Ministries of Women and Child Development and Health to launch media campaign The Union government will promote the use of iron fortified iodised salt (double fortified salt) to battle anaemia, one of the major causes of malnutrition, particularly among women and children. To begin with, the Ministries dealing with food and nutrition programmes such as...

Call for total ban on Endosulfan Asks Centre to join international consensus NFIW members stage protest in New Delhi The non-governmental organisation ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) has urged the Centre to ban the pesticide Endosulfan immediately. Indiscriminate use of the chemical in cashew plantations in Kasaragod district and adjoining areas for several years has reportedly caused side-effects, in alarming proportions, to the local people, leaving many with deformities and genetic disorders. The issue has triggered...