The Health Ministry Food Control Department yesterday warned fruit traders against using Carbide gas for accelerated ripening of fruits, stating that the Health Ministry will take stern action against those found involved in producing and selling such inedible or contaminated fruits.

Calcium Carbide is widely used by traders in spite of it being a banned practice.

Poisonous mangoes harmful to human body are randomly selling in all posh and kitchen markets in city and rural hat and bazaars, different sources said. Yellow coloured ripe mangoes are available in different areas of the city and these mangoes were riped through mixing "carbaid' chemical powder which is very much harmful for health.

The Health Ministry has issued a new circular on the use of chemicals in the process of fruit ripening.

Director General of Health Services Dr. Ajith Mendis has issued instructions on the use of chemicals to ripen the foods.

VELLORE: The Organic Farming Organisation, Vellore, has appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to ban the use of endosulfan, a harmful pesticide, in Tamil Nadu.

In a memorandum to the Chief Minister, president of the organisation G.S. Purushothaman said the pesticide had been banned in more than 80 countries and in India by Karnataka and Kerala.

Recent agreement by BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) to buy half the power generated by the 16 mw municipal solid waste-based power plant being set up by the Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company Private Limited (TOWMCL) in Delhi has triggered off a fresh debate on how to dispose off the city

Cycling to work may seem the healthy option, but a study has shown that people riding in cities inhale tens of millions of toxic nanoparticles with every breath, at least five times more than drivers or pedestrians.