CSE's South Asian Media Briefing Workshop on Food Safety and Environmental Toxins

New Delhi, India

March 29-30, 2012

Modern society and its lifestyles have become a favoured hunting ground for all kinds of deadly toxins. Our food is contaminated with an astounding variety of pesticides and additives; our environment is contaminated with pollutants and toxins.

The medicines we ingest are rapidly losing their bite because of overuse and misuse. And many products that we use – including children’s toys and baby bottles – are loaded with harmful chemicals.

The problem is not restricted to one country. Almost the whole of South Asia, with its teeming population, its food security imperatives and its lax regulatory controls, is plagued by it.

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has been working on toxins and safety of food products for several years. In 2003-06, it had campaigned on the issue of pesticide residues in soft drinks; in 2004, a South Asian media briefing on the subject was organised in New Delhi. In the years that followed, CSE’s laboratory and campaign teams have kept up the tempo by conducting tests and studies on a variety of products – honey, cooking oils, household paints, children’s toys etc, to name a few.

CSE now invites you to attend its South Asian Media Briefing Workshop in New Delhi to share its understanding and knowledge of a range of issues under the broader subject of food safety and environmental toxins -- pesticides, junk food, contaminants, drugs of daily use, industrial contaminants, industrial liability, regulations and regulatory capacity. The two-day Workshop is expected to bring together scientists, civil society, experts and regulators working in these areas to brief journalists.