Every time petrol prices rise, people start buying diesel-powered vehicles, which add to toxic pollution in our cities

Consider this. Every time petrol prices rise, oil companies end up losing more money. How? The price differential between petrol and diesel increases further; people start buying diesel-powered vehicles so oil firms bleed more. Even worse, we all bleed because dieselisation adds to toxic pollution in our cities. This, in turn, adds to the health burden and costs.

U.S.

Diwali may have been quieter this year, but toxic fumes from firecrackers pushed air pollution levels in the city way above the permissible limits on all three days of the festival.

According to initial data obtained from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for the Ambient Air Quality monitoring station at Bandra, the average respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) levels in the area on October 26 were 358 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3). This is more than three times the permissible limit of 100 µg/m3. In fact, this is the second highest value of RSPM recorded on Lakshmi pooja in Bandra from 2007 to 2011.

Researchers have revealed how a common hospital pathogen turns into a deadly superbug, killing more and more patients worldwide. A mutation in the Clostridium difficile causes potentially dangerous diarrhoea among indoor patients undergoing antibiotic therapy, according to Dena Lyras and Glen Carter from the Monash University School of Biomedical Sciences, who led the study.

Sri Lanka has moved into regulation of hazardous chemicals and monitoring industries that use them.

Over a third of the Indian pharmacies continue to sell to livestock farmers the banned killer drug, diclofenac, responsible for the dramatic fall in vulture population in the country.

Ahmedabad: Lakes and small waterbodies are the next major concern for Ahmedabad’s mosquito control team. Over 20 water bodies — minor and major — dot the city. And health officials of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) believe that with the rains ebbing, the water bodies are turning into major breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Demonstrators from a human chain on Friday called for taking stern action against the business of adulterated and poisonous foods that were sickening and killing innocent consumers.

Business in chemically poisoned foods and fruits has not stopped despite anti-adulteration drives of the government, the demonstrators alleged.

The human chain was organised by Save the Environment Movement in fr