The Madhya Pradesh government has banned genetically modified (GM) seeds in the state with agriculture minister Ramkrishna Kusmariya saying that scientifically re-engineered foodgrain and vegetables will become "non-vegetarian" and "end" Indian culture. The same minister had blamed crop destruction because of heavy winter rains three months ago on the "sins of the farmers". Kusmariya told reporters in Damoh on Thursday that his department won't permit use of GM seeds in the state...

Is gulping down litres of carbonated soft drinks harming your health? We will soon know. The Union health ministry on February 7 informed the Supreme Court that a definitive study is now being undertaken by the National Institute of Nutrition ( Hyderabad) "to assess the effects of consumption of carbonated water beverages and soft drinks on health of adolescents and young adults". The final report of the study is expected to...

An ongoing study on radiation from mobile towers and mobile phones at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has found that the exposure to radiation from mobile towers and mobile phones could have an adverse impact on male fertility and also pose health hazards by depleting the defence mechanism of cells. Though these findings are based on experiments on male rats, Jitendra Behari, a professor in JNU's School of Environmental Sciences and...

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today endorsed a new rapid test for tuberculosis, which it says could revolutionize the way the disease is tackled by providing an accurate diagnosis in about 100 minutes, compared to current tests that can take up to three months. “This new test represents a major milestone for global TB diagnosis and care. It also represents new hope for the millions of people who are...

Every afternoon at about four, a slight woman named Runi slips out of the cramped, airless room that she shares with her husband and their sixteen children. She skirts the drainage ditch in front of the building, then walks toward the pile of hardened dung cakes that people in this slum on the edge of the northeastern Indian city of Patna use for fuel. Dressed in a bright-yellow sari shot...