The European Union's (EU) Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) directive, which took effect a year ago, on 1 June 2007, is widely regarded as the strictest chemical safety law in the world. Unlike the 1981 EU legislation it replaces, or the US Toxic Substances Control Act, REACH applies to all existing chemicals, not just new ones. (Editorial)
Police arrested eight protesters on Wednesday as they tried to stop a cull of hundreds of kangaroos on a military base near the Australian capital, and local Aborigines joined the campaign against the slaughter. Elders from the local indigenous Ngunnawal clan said they were reclaiming the land from the Australian Defence Force, lighting a small ceremonial fire, which they attempted to carry onto the defence communications site. "We are claiming our land and that's what our sacred fire means," elder Isobel Coe shouted at police as protesters forced their way to the site of the cull.
The Central Zoo Authority wants to shed its responsibility of monitoring the upkeep of elephants in circuses, saying the task should be entrusted with the Animal Welfare Board in view of frequent instances of violation of norms by the owners. It has written to the environment ministry to keep the circuses out of its ambit, citing inability of circus owners to comply with the provisions of its Recognition of Zoo Rules 1992 in the upkeep of elephants.
Ignorant villages beat a male dolphin to death and grievously injured another female dolphin in the Sharda canal in Nagram village, on the outskirts of Lucknow. The dolphins had strayed into the canal and the villagers mistook it for some "killer fish" and beat it with rods. One of the villagers then put the dead dolphin on a wheel cart and was towing it away when the Nagram police caught him. The man has been taken into custody. The Nagram police informed the forest officials who then sent the dead dolphin for post-mortem.
Like bt cotton, hybrid varieties of maize, having higher protein content have the potential to create a revolution in the country, ensuring nutritional security to poor as well as for poultry industry, farm experts said. Under the quality protein maize (QPM) programme, there are atleast 10 varieties of maize available in the country. Protein content in QPM is about 74% while it is only 37% in normal maize. Interestingly, protein quality of QPM is 90% of that of milk, they said.
Canada's annual seal hunt, the world's largest marine mammal hunt, kicked off on March 28. To curb international protests over the hunt, the Canadian government has come up with new rules, saying
CAN a peacock, considered to be the National Bird, die of starvation? That too in a Lord Muruga Temple? ( Mythologically, Lord Muruga travels on Peacocks). Death of a peacock in Parry's Kandasami Temple, also known as Muthukumara Devastanam on April 3 ruffled many a feather as some persons in the know attribute the death to starvation. Veterinary doctors say it died of some poultry disease.
As Australia's Defence Department contractors are preparing to cull about 400 kangaroos on a former naval site at Belconnen, in Canberra's north, animal rights activists are planning a last minute
More companies around the world are adjusting their farm-animal confinement policies and requesting clarification of consumer labels to reflect these changes. The moves come largely in response to U.S. voter-led initiatives and the implementation of farm policy reforms in the European Union.
Villagers of Motu Sangam in Gandhari mandal killed a leopard which strayed into their village on Thursday afternoon by raining blows with strong clubs. The died instantaneously.
