Pest of a problem
Despite stringent criticism directed at its safety standards, DDT still rules as the major pesticide used by India's health sector
Whre science and tradition join hands
The Gloria Land farm in Pondicherry and another run by a couple in Karnataka, show natural inputs can effectively replace factory produced …
Pitching for sustainability in agriculture
Two films, shown recently in the Capital, focus on alternative farming strategies as a counterbalance to the ecologically destructive Green Revolution
The ACD of malaria control
With the discovery that not all four anopheles mosquitoes transmit malaria, programmes to control the disease need fresh appraisal
Tea time tales
Darjeeling tea estates turn bio-organic as Germany threatens to boycott tea containing pesticide traces
Pesticide use results in dwindling exports
Despite restrictions on harmful pesticides, their use by farmers continues. This is forcing foreign countries to reduce imports substantially of …
Working wonders with neem
There has recently been a flurry of international activity centred around the versatile neem.
Research without change
Robert Repetto and Sanjay Baliga quote a number of studies carried out by Indians in India and abroad on the impact of pesticides on the immune …
Spraying poison
Despite a government ban on use of some common pesticides in agriculture, our food continues to be contaminated. The there-is-no-alternative …
Plagued plantations
Farmers in the Peruvian highlands learn that all's not well with their produce, land and health
Limp-frogging
Increasing deformities in frogs attributed to pesticide exposure, which makes them susceptible to parasite infection
Living with the Devil's Element
BBC's film on chlorine is more successful in underlining the vital role it plays in daily life, rather than in detailing why it should be banned
Pesticide film depicts US callousness
Medfly Madness, made by BBC, focusses on what happens when saving a multibillion fruit and vegetable industry takes precedence over the health of …
Beetle's taste for sunflowers alarms experts
Scientists fear the Mexican beetle, introduced to counter the adverse effects of a weed, may destroy the sunflower crop.
Don't bite that apple!
The government's plans for boosting horticulture to earn foreign exchange do not take into account the hidden costs of deforestation, fertiliser …
A Pest Of A Problem
Cross-border trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides threatens the ecology with dire consequences. Sixty-one nations get together to ward off …
Deep Impact
In spite of ample evidence highlighting the adverse effects of pesticides on wildlife, it continues to be used indiscriminately in India. Worse, …
Ban dilemma
A ban on insecticides in the US may throw up more problems than it seeks to solve. The sufferers will include children suffering from asthma
Better than the pest
A renewable energy alternative to pesticides is gaining popularity among farmers in south India
Suicide by pesticide
After the failure of the cotton crop, a large numbers of farmers in Andhra Pradesh are committing suicide by consuming the very pesticide that is …
Filtering the fine print
The confusion resulting from reports about pesticides in bottled water and soft drinks saw a few companies sneak-ride upon the concerns of the …
The discerning eye of the insect
How do pests select which plants to attack in the field? By smelling odours plants emit, believe most entomologists. But now an alternative …
'Farmers will have no choice'
DAVID HATHAWAY is a social scientist who has worked in Brazil on issues such as transnational corporations, pesticides, genetically engineered …
'Ours is a model of natural farming'
A couple in Kerala demonstrate that barren land can be brought back to life without using any external inputs.
Anti bodies
Pesticides -- on the face of it, ordinary chemicals to contain pests, but in reality, deadly killers which could deliver the ultimate blow by …