Does Formula Feeding contribute to childhood obesity?
National Coordinator, Breastfeeding Promotion Netwrok of India Dr JP Dadhich answers.
National Coordinator, Breastfeeding Promotion Netwrok of India Dr JP Dadhich answers.
DID YOU KNOW
The traditional agricultural system of Koraput (Odisha) has been recognized by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Site (GIAHS) at the recently concluded 99th Science Congress. This recognition is for outstanding contribution to promoting food security, biodiversity, indigenous knowledge and cultural diversity for sustainable and equitable development. Living Farms is a non profit working in the Koraput region of Odisha with the tribal communities practicing the traditional form of agriculture.
FSSAI goes on the backfoot soon after the study is released; denies claims made by themselves
Nationwide ban to continue
178 countries agree to ban exports of toxic wastes to developing countries
The victims of groundwater depletion and environmental pollution at Plachimada, Kerala, caused by the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverage Company, will have to wait longer. The Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill 2011 is still with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) while it should have been on its way for presidential assent to make it an Act.
Labeling sought The European Union's highest court, on September 6, ruled that honey which contains trace amounts of pollen from genetically modified (GM) corn must be labelled as GM produce and undergo full safety authorization before it can be sold as food.
Brings Poultry under scanner The US Department of Agriculture will move to the next level to ensure the safety of the public from E. coli related food borne illness, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on September 13. Vilsack said that there will be addition of six serogroups of non-O157:H7 shiga-toxin producing E. coli (nSTEC) that will be considered adulterants, in non-intact raw beef, including ground beef and tenderized steaks.
Success for environmental groups Bayer CropScience announced on September 16 that it will withdraw all the WHO Class I pesticides. This phase out will be completed by the end of 2012. This announcement has been welcomed by the environmental groups that had been asking Bayer for long to phase out the toxic pesticides.
Questions validity of Plachimada tribunal bill under its consideration The Plachimada tribunal bill that was making no progress at the Centre has received yet another setback. The Union home ministry, which was coordinating with other Central ministries—law, environment and forests, agriculture—for feedback on the bill, received legal opinion from the counsels of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd, questioning the validity of the bill that was passed by the Kerala legislature.
Still a long way to go The Food Safety and Standards Act,2006 became operational on August 5, 2011. The Act was passed in 2006 and the Food Safety and Standards Authority was set up in 2008 but the Act wasn't completely operational.
Assam on high alert This time it is Assam. Nearly 200 birds have been culled in Agomoni, Pokalagi, Jhapsabari, Kherbari, Supaikuti and Bhamundanga under Golokganj police station of Dhubri district, in September alone. The scare came to light when one of 300 specimens of dead birds, sent to Bhopal for a test, was confirmed with bird flu. The district administration swung into action and issued a ban on the sale of the birds in the market and an awareness campaign was launched.
A critique of the BRAI bill by Shalini Bhutani The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill surfaced quietly in the List of Business for Lok Sabha in August 2011. It did not however make it for introduction in this session of Parliament. Yet the din about it outside the legislature refuses to settle down.
Sanjay Dave, director of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), was recently elected chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The first Indian to be appointed to the UN body for food safety standards, he is credited with introducing web-based certification of organic products in India in 2009.