A study by NGO Toxics Link has found extremely high levels of lead in the dust collected from Delhi homes. Lead is known to be harmful, especially for children and pregnant women, and the study indicates that the primary cause for high lead levels was paints.

Dr Meenal Kumar The inhalation of outdoor and indoor air pollutants has been found to be a major concern for the health of the unborn, newborn, young children and their mothers. The women who live in the regions with high carbon monoxide or fine-particle levels caused by vehicle traffic are 10 to 25 per cent more likely to have a pre-term baby than those who live in less polluted areas. This is especially true for women who breathe polluted air during the first trimester or during the last months and weeks of pregnancy.

Non -lifting of garbage by the municipal corporation employees has literally converted numerous Patiala colonies into a garbage dump. While the employees blame the residents for dumping garbage at sights not earmarked for it, no efforts are being made to clear the areas. People say heaps of garbage remain dumped on main roads for days and lifted partially after repeated reminders to the local officials.

SHUNNING junk food and choosing health, you may have decided to go natural with fruits, but caution is advised because some traders here have relied on artificial means to produce gleaming fruits that are definitely unhealthy . And, mangoes seem to be the prime target of nefarious traders.

The WHO and the Union health ministry will launch a pilot project in Cooch Behar and Murshidabad districts of Bengal as part of their nationwide programme to curb the use of tobacco. The plan under the National Tobacco Control Programme involves the setting up of counselling centres at the district level, where experts will advise people on how to kick the habit of smoking. These centres will be located at the district hospitals, from where teams of experts will fan out to various blocks.

KOLKATA : In a bid to reduce harmful effect of pollution on health, the Indian Medical Association has decided to conduct various mass awareness programmes in the city. Stressing on the need of such campaigns, Mrs Urmilla Khanna, president of Indian Medical Association said: "Pollution affects major human organs of the body and unless we are aware and take precautionary measures, the risk will keep on increasing in future.'

Bhopal : The condition of mandatory ten per cent contribution for implementation of piped water schemes in the rural areas has been abolished. Public Health Engineering Minister Choudhary Chandrabhan Singh has informed that orders to this effect have been issued today by the department. He informed that this decision would lead to intensification of piped water schemes' implementation.

Central government has agreed to establish a Commission having special rights for Bhopal gas victims. Proposed commission would consider over different aspects of rehabilitation with consent of government of MP. It is a big achievement for the gas victims who had been staging dharna at Jantar Mantar in national capital Delhi for two months. Though all the three organisations of gas victims are not satisfied only with the establishment of the Commission, but it would prove a better platform to consider over their problems.