-Al Jazeera Treaty to ban chemicals that harmed the ozone layer came about when there was consensus between science and politics. In 1974, chemists Mario Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland published a landmark article that demonstrated the ability of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to break down the ozone layer, the atmospheric region that plays a vital role in shielding humans and other life from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It marked the opening salvo of...
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Smokers, how to gain 10 years
-The Telegraph People who stop smoking before the age of 40 may on average gain an extra 10 years of life expectancy, according to a study that researchers say has relevance to India where people typically quit only after falling ill. A British study described as the world’s largest to assess the hazards of smoking and the benefits of quitting has shown that quitting before 40 can help avoid excess mortality observed...
More »India’s tuberculosis challenge -R Prasad
-The Hindu The epidemic is running amok. And the government is finally waking up to the reality. Tuberculosis was declared a global health emergency in 1993, but it has been growing unchecked. Today, TB is causing millions of deaths every year globally. Like any infectious disease, TB is prevalent even in developed countries. But it is a more serious problem in the developing and populous countries. India and China together account for nearly...
More »The dark underbelly of India’s clinical trials business-Malia Politzer and Vidya Krishnan
-Live Mint Incidents at Bhopal and Indore highlight irregularities and ethical violations in some trials In 2004, doctors at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC), established exclusively for treating the victims of the 1984 gas leak, recruited unsuspecting survivors for clinical trials without their knowledge or consent; 14 participants died during the course of the trials. Together with the episode in Indore’s Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital (that Mint reported on 10...
More »Water around Union Carbide factory in Bhopal is dangerous: Report in Supreme Court-A Vaidyanathan and Samira Shaikh
-NDTV The Supreme Court has been told that the water around the former Union Carbide plant at Bhopal is contaminated and not fit for consumption. The report was filed today by the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Lucknow, which collected 26 samples from around the factory, from where a poisonous gas leak in 1984 led to the deaths of more than 15,000 people, creating the world's largest industrial disaster. The leak...
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