Frustration mounts as ambitious US project is scaled back.

The US National Institutes of Health should rethink plans to limit a nationwide study of children. It must not miss a rare opportunity to probe the causes of childhood diseases. (Editorial)

In the absence of any viable regulatory mechanism for gene technology, the Supr-eme Court has set up a six-member expert committee to monitor field trials on certain crops using genetically-modified organisms. The panel. which has three months to submit its rep-ort, will ensure that the open tests do not have any adverse impact on the traditional crops, flora and fauna due to the release of harmful GMOs into the atmosphere.

Healthy ecosystems provide us with fertile soil, clean water, timber, and food. They reduce the spread of diseases. They protect against flooding. Worldwide, they regulate atmospheric concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide. They moderate climate. Without these and other “ecosystem services,” we’d all perish.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking total ban on the use and manufacturing of plastic bags throughout the country while citing the example of some states which had successfully implemented such a ban.

The notice was issued on a PIL by NGO, Karuna, the Society for Animals and Nature, raising various environment related issues arising out of the large-scale use of plastic bags.

This report is intended to provide an overview of the concept of ecosystem approach to disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR), natural resource management and disaster linkages, incorporating Eco-DRR concepts in various phases of disaster management, including post disaster recovery in wide range of human and natural environmental settings. The case studies cover coastal, mountain and urban ecosystems and specific hydro-meteorological risks like floods, forest fire, epidemics and landslides.

The United States EPA is proposing new source performance standards for emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) for new affected fossil fuel-fired electric utility generating units (EGUs). The EPA is proposing these requirements because CO2 is a greenhouse gas (GHG) and fossil fuel-fired power plants are the country’s largest stationary source emitters of GHGs. The EPA in 2009 found that by causing or contributing to climate change, GHGs endanger both the public health and the public welfare of current and future generations.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a global health and developmental emergency, as they cause premature deaths, exacerbate poverty and threaten national economies. In 2008, they were the top killers in the South-East Asia region, causing 7.9 million deaths; the number of deaths is expected to increase by 21% over the next decade.

The assessment of growth is crucial for child care and reference data are central to growth monitoring. The authors aimed to assess the height, weight and body mass index (BMI) of Indian schoolchildren in order to develop gender appropriate growth charts for children 5-18 years of age.

India has been ranked at the 125th in terms of tackling pollution and natural resource management challenges, according to 2012 Environmental Performance Index prepared by Yale and Columbia Universities.

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