Genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop but has vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of “superweeds,” according to a report by 20 Indian, southeast Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people. The so-called miracle crops, which were first sold in the U.S. about 20 years ago and which are now grown in 29 countries on about...
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CAG not exceeding jurisdiction: Pranab
-PTI Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today backed the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in the context of Reports on various scams, saying the government auditor has not exceeded his jurisdiction. "I am making it clear that I do not think that CAG is exceeding its jurisdiction or things like that, because basic responsibility of the CAG is to identify, if there is any, lapse," he said during a question-answer session at the...
More »Fertility drug ban after 4 years of use by GS Mudur
The Union health ministry today banned the manufacture and sale of a drug called letrozole to treat infertility in women, four years after its own drug regulators had waived safety studies and relaxed rules to approve the medicine. In a statement notifying the ban, the ministry said the drug “is likely to involve risk to human beings and safer alternatives are available”. The drug has been used to treat breast cancer in...
More »India campaign over 'draconian' anti-insurgent law by Riyaz Masroor
Prominent Indian activists have begun a 3000km (1864 miles) drive from Indian-administered Kashmir to north-eastern Manipur state to demand the withdrawal of a controversial anti-insurgent law. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) gives the security forces the powers of search and seizure. It also protects soldiers who may kill a civilian by mistake or in unavoidable circumstances during an operation. The law has been blamed for "fake killings" in Kashmir and Manipur. An...
More »Food price swings threaten to push millions more people into hunger, UN warns
-The United Nations The United Nations and international figures marked World Food Day today with calls for immediate aid and longer-term solutions, and warnings of factors that keep hundreds of millions mired in hunger, such as price swings and gender discrimination. In a message delivered to a ceremony at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that there is more than enough food on the...
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