Contrary to the prevalent belief, smoking is the most important cause of premature heart attacks, with India having about 4.5 crore patients with ischemic heart disease, doctors warned on Wednesday on the eve of the “World No Tobacco Day.”

According to the World Health Organisation, tobacco use is one of the biggest public health threats worldwide which kills nearly six million people a year of whom about 600,000 are non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.

A harried parent called a few weeks ago. She wanted to know if pollution levels in Delhi were bad and, if so, how bad. The answer was simple and obvious. But why did she need to know that? Her daughter’s prestigious school (which I shall leave unnamed) had sent a circular to parents saying the school authorities planned to shift to air-conditioned buses because they were worried about air pollution. She wanted to know if this was the right decision.

My answer changed. The fact is that pollution levels are high and we need to find ways to bring them under control. But this does not mean the rich can find ways to avoid breathing the air so as to keep pollution at bay.

Of the 24 Indus River dolphins found dead in January, 18 had reportedly died from poisoning as fishermen misused the Benazir card for excessive catch, said Sindh Wildlife Minister Dr Dayaram in the

Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace said on Tuesday that an investigation it had conducted found tea bags sold in China by Unilever's Lipton brand contained unsafe levels of pesticide residue,

With the number of A-H1N1 (swine flu) cases increasing steadily, the Union Government on Wednesday said there was no cause for panic as the situation was well under control and being monitored.

An official in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare denied reports in a section of the media that the virus has mutated and is not curable.

Unavailability of natural gas and destruction of forests and water bodies due to our inability to use our coal fields optimally is having a huge impact on our health and environment

Two monopolies. One private; the other public. One in gas; the other in coal. Both equally disastrous for the environment. I speak here of Reliance Industries Ltd and Coal India Ltd.

Endosulfan among toxins found in water samples

The water in most of the areas upstream of the Periyar such as Pathalam bund near the Edayar industrial site, the point where Chalakkal Thodu joins the Periyar, the riverside near FACT and near the Merchem Edayar discharge point contained dangerous chemicals such as endosulfan, according to a report filed before the Kerala High Court by the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram.