Urbanisation, Insecticides Pushing Winged Creatures Towards Extinction

Lucknow: Many bird species once sighted commonly across Uttar Pradesh are now vanishing. The reasons could be many and diverse, but technology appears to be the biggest factor behind this threat looming over the feathered friends of man. First mynahs faced the extinction threat, then sparrows and vultures followed. And now, the existence of graceful peacock is also threatened due to various factors.

If Makhteshim Agan India fails to reply to the show-cause notice, its import approval could be revoked

The Union agriculture ministry has issued a show-cause notice to Makhteshim Agan India, the Indian arm of Makhteshim Agan (MA), a leading crop protection solutions company based in Israel, for "variance" in data of field evaluation studies commissioned by it. The studies were aimed at securing an approval to import a particular herbicide.

A campaign to banish pesticides linked to the fall in bee populations appears to be gathering pace after at least five garden centre chains agreed to remove products blamed for the decline.

In 2009, a government survey had counted 7,738 people living with cancer across Punjab. Now that a fresh survey has counted 23,874, over three times as high, the government has acknowledged the need to identify the causes and tackle what is clearly a menace.

"Fresh studies will have to be undertaken, especially for areas where cancer incidence is high," says Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal. The nearly 24,000 cases detected was in addition to over 33,000 deaths from cancer-related causes in the last five years — around 18 a day — and 84,453 people who showed cancer-like symptoms but who hadn't yet been diagnosed with the disease.

New research suggests the chemicals are playing a significant and previously unknown role in the global decline of amphibians

Three widely-used pesticides made by Switzerland's Syngenta and Germany's Bayer pose an acute risk to honeybees, the European Union's food safety watchdog said on Wednesday, but stopped short of li

Campaigners say the conclusion by the European Food Safety Authority is a 'death knell' for neonicotinoid pesticides

A 10-year blanket ban on field trials of genetically modified (termed Bt) crops, proposed by an expert committee set up by the Supreme Court, has set off alarm bells, especially in the cotton sector.

A senior government official said it would be like gifting a 10-year monopoly on Bt cotton to a single company, Monsanto, and clipping the wings of upcoming competitors, such as Bayer, Dow, DuPont and Syngenta, and some public sector companies.