Indepth: Food Safety

Pesticide industry body loses defamation case against CSE, twice

Date: 03/09/2010

The Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI), a pesticide industry body, has twice lost the defamation case it filed against Centre for Science and Environment. CCFI had been pursuing the case against a study done by CSE highlighting the endosulfan poisoning of residents of Padre village in Kasaragod district, Kerala.

Related:

In-Court: Writ petition on pesticide residues monitoring study from Padre for endosulfan – Bombay High Court
Feature: Endosulfan Conspiracy
Feature: LIES, DAMN LIES AND ENDOSULFAN
Report: Final report of the investigation of unusual illnesses allegedly produced by endosulfan exposure in Padre village of Kasargod
Report: Health hazards of aerial spraying of endosulphan in Kasaragod district, Kerala: report of the expert committee
Report: End of the road for endosulfan: pushing for a global ban on a deadly pesticide
Report: India’s endosulfan disaster: a review of the Health impacts and status of remediation
Report: Effects of endosulfan on human beings

Latest News from Down To Earth

Billed to confuse

If the nationwide furore over Bt brinjal was driven by the fear of unsafe food being pushed down the throat, the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (brai) bill goes a step further to silence all opposition. The bill will bring about changes in regulating the research, transport, import, manufacture and use of genetically modified (GM) products in the country.

GM food debate hots up again

Gilles-Eric Seralini, one of the first scientists to warn the world about the dangers of genetically modified food, counters pro-GM scientists in an interview with Savvy Soumya Misra. Some scientists are planning to write to the Indian government, saying you never carried out any independent study and had no access to Bt gene of maize or brinjal. What do you have to say?

Government Policies and Action Plans

Revised draft on regulation of trans fatty acids (TFAs) in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHVOs)

01 May 2010

This draft on Regulation of Trans Fatty Acids ,TFAs, in Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils, PHVOs by FSSAI has proposed that Level of TFA in Vanaspati / PHVO, be fixed at 10% maximum and brought down to 5% in 3 years.

Revised draft on regulation of energy drinks, and caffeine

01 May 2010

Energy drinks are non-alcoholic beverages containing caffeine, guarana, glucuronolactone, taurine, ginseng, inositol, carnitine, B-vitamins etc. as main ingredients that act as stimulants. In recent years, a number of different energy drinks have been introduced in the Indian market to provide an energy boost or as dietary supplements.

Health Effects

Communities in peril: global report on health impacts of pesticide use in agriculture

This new report by PAN-AP reveals that hazardous pesticides are commonly used in unsafe situations around the world, and calls for assertive action by corporations, governments and international bodies to address pesticide hazards.

Source: Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific

Tags: Agriculture, Global, Health Effects, Pesticide Poisoning, Pesticide Use, Pesticides, India, Pesticides And Toxins
F as in fat: how obesity threatens America’s future

In 2001, then-Surgeon General David Satcher issued a landmark statement that obesity had reached epidemic proportions in America. The country began to react, but slowly.

Source: Trust For America’s Health

Tags: Child Health, Children, Diseases, Food Process Industry, Health Care, Nutrition, Obesity, PepsiCo, Soft Drinks, United States Of America (US), Health, Pesticides And Toxins

Regulations

Food safety and standards regulations, 2010

The draft of food safety and standards regulations 2010 released by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Source: Food Safety And Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI)

Tags: Food Additives, Food Contamination, Food Safety, Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, Food Safety And Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI), Food Standards, Food Policy, India, Pesticides And Toxins
Draft on operationalizing the regulation of genetically modified foods in India

FSSAI guidelines on operationalizing regulation of GM Foods in India. FSSAI will assess GM foods at the level of an “event”and approvals will apply to foods derived from the event, its progeny and any food stuffs that contain ingredients derived from the approved event and its progeny.

Source: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India

Tags: Agriculture, Food Safety, Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, Food Safety And Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI), Food Standards, GM Crops, GMOs, India, Pesticides And Toxins

Impact

Agricultural biotechnology: a lot more than just GM crops

The booklet discusses in detail and in simple language agricultural biotechnology as it compares with conventional breeding, the agricultural biotechnology tools used in crops such as tissue culture and micropropagation, molecular breeding and marker-assisted selection, and genetic engineering and GM crops.

Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA)

Tags: Agriculture, Biotechnology, Crops, Food Safety, Genetic Engineering, GM Crops, Plant Breeding, Environment, Pesticides And Toxins

Public opinion survey on GE foods

Source: Greenpeace India

Tags: Agriculture, Bangalore (T), Bt Brinjal, Calcutta (T), Delhi, Genetic Engineering, GM Crops, Guwahati, Indore (T), Mumbai, India, Pesticides And Toxins
Report of the national consultations on Bt-Brinjal

Source: Ministry of Environment and Forests

Tags: Agriculture, Biosafety, Bt Brinjal, Farmers, Food Safety, Health Effects, Legislation, India, Pesticides And Toxins
Bt brinjal: the truth behind it

Source: Greenpeace India

Tags: Agriculture, Bt Brinjal, Food Safety, Genetic Engineering, GM Crops, GMOs, Vegetables, India, Pesticides And Toxins
GM food safety assessment: tools for trainers

Source: FAO

Tags: Biotechnology, CODEX, Food Safety, Food Standards, Global, GM Crops, GMOs, Nutrition, Processed Foods, Toxicity Studies, India, Pesticides And Toxins

Safety evaluation of certain food additives

The monographs contained in this volume were prepared at the seventy-first meeting of the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/ World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), which met at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on 16–24 June 2009.

Source: WHO

Tags: Acute Toxicity, Food Additives, Food Contamination, Food Safety, Food Standards, Food Policy, Pesticides And Toxins

Books

The pesticide detox: towards a more sustainable agriculture

Since the 1960s, the world's population has more than doubled and agricultural production per person has increased by a third. Yet this growth in production has masked enormous hidden costs arising from widespread pesticide use - massive ecological damage and high incidences of farmer poisoning and chronic health effects.
Pesticide residues in food and drinking water: human exposure and risks

This book describes the issues surrounding pesticide residues in food and drinking water and, in particular, the issues associated with human exposure and consumer risk assessment.