• A review by C Gopalan, president of the Nutrition Foundation of-India, New Delhi, attributes the high incidence of coronary heart diseases in Delhi to increasing air pollution. To promote eco-tourism in the country, the ministry of environment and forests is proposing a ceiling on the number of tourists visiting the national parks and sanctuaries.

• The Delhi government has chalked out a Rs 300 crore plan to set up 16 sewage treatment plants in the city to prevent pollutants from flowing into the Yamuna.

• Cement dust from Karbi Anglong's (Assam) Bokajan Cement Factory has exposed the residents of Bokajan town to cough, skin ailments and cancer. Precipitators installed in the plant do not work.

• The Bihar government has initiated steps to probe the misdeeds of state forest officials who have allegedly siphoned off funds worth over Rs 100 crore meant for environment schemes.

• The World Wide Fund for Nature is conducting a census operation of the Lesser Florican, a bird which is an indicator of the health and extent of India's grasslands, in the Saurashtra-Kutch region in Rajkot, Gujarat.

• The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, a farmers' association, has served notice to Kentucky Fried Chicken, the American fast-food firm to close its shop in Bangalore. The reason: fried chicken are considered carcinogenic and may pose health problems. Plans for captive breeding of the endangered Western Tragopan for the first time in the world, by the Himachal Pradesh wildlife department - in Sarahan near Shimla - received a setback as the parent pair was killed by a Red Martin.

• The ministry of environment and forests has issued the Bio-Medical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1995, under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, to regulate the treatment and disposal of bio-med- ical wastes from hospitals, clinics, R&D organisations, laboratories and abattoirs.