Honey, being a natural product manufactured by honey bees is considered to be free from any extraneous material. The over-reliance on pesticides caused several environmental problems including pesticide residues in food. This constitutes a potential risk for human health, because of their sub acute and chronic toxicity.

Products derived from medicinal plants have been used for therapeutic purposes for centuries. Herbal products are generally considered safe and have been proven effective against certain ailments. They are also extensively used, particularly in many Asian, African and other developing countries (Patwardhan et al., 2005). There is an urgent need to establish the identity, purity and quality of herbal products in order to have full efficacy and safety.

Spices form an important ingredient of food as well as herbal teas in India. Indian spices such as Cloves and ginger are famous all over the world for their natural aroma, flavor, taste and medicinal value. Due to the therapeutic uses of these spices, they are commonly used as herbal tea ingredients in India. since these spices serve as raw materials in the preparation of herbal teas in India, they should be free from contaminants.

The elevated concentration of Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM, PM10) in the ambient air is a major cause of health problem and urban people are affected at risk on exposure.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/y076tm584r52u511/

Automobiles contribute significantly to the air pollution problem in urban areas. Their emissions account for approximately 60% of the total pollution in developed countries and about 80% in the developing countries.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/4nf6m8nqd7e3m5qb/

This article focuses on the analysis of orgnohlorine pesticides (OCP) residues in commonly used spices like cumin (Cuminum cyminum), chili (Capsicurn frutescens ), city ginger. The use of OCPs in developing countries has been of serious concern because of their persistent nature. Results have shown that the level of HCH was more than the level of DDT in majority of the samples like cumin, chilli, dry ginger, carraway, aniseed black pepper, fenugreek, turmeric and corriander. The maximum value of total HCH was 0.203 ppm in turmeric and minimum 0.009 ppm in corriander.

Fluoride is known to contaminate groundwater reserves globally. Excess fluoride, wherever present in groundwater in INdia, is mainly in the concentration range of 1.5 to 6.5 mg L-1 against its critical limit of 1.5 mg L-1 in drinking water.

The use of plant materials for preparations of ayurvedic tonics has been known since ancient periods. The use of digestive candies and health tonics are at great demand in India. Further, the enormous use of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in developing countries has been of serious concern because of their persistant nature. Herbal products prepared using parts of the plants for human consumption used as drugs, tonics, toiletories, cosmetics etc may also contain significant level of OCP residues.

A plasticizer is a substance normally incorporated to a PVC resin or some other materials such as paints, to improve some of its properties as flexibility or processability. Phthalates, adipates, phosphates and some others are the main compounds used as plasticizers. Some of these compounds, as bis-(2-ethylhexyl)

The article offers information on the quantification of organochlorine pesticides residues in edible oils and oil seeds used in India. It states that different organochlorine pesticides were found in the edible oils and oil seeds which include metabolites, aldrin, and endusulfan. It says that sesame oils were found to have low saponification value (SV) but higher free fatty acid (FFA).

Pages