A recent test on gutka packets by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revealed that most tobacco packets contain the banned toxic chemical magnesium carbonate, the quantity of which is as high as seven per cent.

According to oncologists, magnesium carbonate can cause unusual health risks, which include stomach ulcers, irreparable damage to lining of oral cavity among others.

The swine flu epidemic has been very serious in Pune this year, when compared to anywhere in the state or even in the country.

Doctors feel that it is partly to do with the erratic weather, besides factors including many not having developed immunity to the virus, like a few did, after it first broke out in 2009. Another factor could also be that the virus itself has developed immunity to temperature, which allows itself to sustain in higher temperatures unlike the claim that it can only survive in a cooler environment.