"THE tribals need to change their attitude and lifestyle," said R.K. Dixit, the Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO) of Sheopur district in Madhya Pradesh, in response to a query about continuing reports of children starving to death in the region. The Sahariyas, one of the poorest tribal communities in Madhya Pradesh, live mostly in remote villages with little access to health care.

Infants

The Peruvian government and Bayer, a multinational pesticide manufacturer, have been held responsible by the citizen's tribunal for the 1999 pesticide poisoning deaths of 24 schoolchildren in Tauccamarca. The children died after drinking a milk substitute contaminated with methyl parathion (sold by Bayer). Two schoolchildren, by mistake, took a bag of government-supplied milk substitute mixed with the pesticide to be served in school. The result was tragic. The tribunal blamed Bayer for failing to implement basic safety precautions to prevent misuse of methyl parathion.

No guidelines for severe malnutrition in children

Every year, before monsoons, the spectre resurrects, grabs headlines and is buried in a few months. Malnutrition deaths of children in Maharashtra first made news a decade ago. Since then, committees have been appointed, schemes have been announced

EPA head s selfish act averts pesticide danger on children

Malnutrition deaths of children in a tribal hamlet point to the general state of welfare programmes in Madhya Pradesh.