overnment tightens noose around instant noodles brands

Government tightens noose around instant noodles brands

Author(s): Jyotsna Singh @singh_jyotsna 

With three more states banning Maggi, Nestle India decides to withdraw its popular instant noodles packets from the Indian market

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has directed states to test all popular instant noodles brands <Credit: Devika/Flickr)

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has directed states to test all instant noodles brands available in the market after Maggi noodles were found to contain excess lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG).

The Delhi government recently banned the sale of Maggi across stores after 10 of 13 packets showed the presence of MSG and excess amount of lead (17 parts per million). The popular brand can only make a comeback after tests confirm the absence of MSG and lead content not beyond the permissible limit of 2.5 ppm.

Earlier, the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Uttar Pradesh government had also filed a case against Nestle India after excess amount of lead was found in Maggi packets at a retail store in Barabanki. Following this, it filed a case against Nestle in a local court.

“States have been requested to submit test reports. We will take action based on these reports. The process may take two to three days,” Y S Malik, FSSAI chief executive officer, said.

Meanwhile, in a press release, Nestle India said that it had decided to withdraw all Maggi packets from the market. Information about ingredients printed on Maggi packets does not declare the presence of MSG, the over-consumption of which is considered dangerous by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Maggi faces heat

After Kerala declared a temporary ban on Maggi sale, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Gujarat have also followed suit.

Delhi-based businessman R P S Kohli has floated an online petition on the website, change.org, where he has appealed to Nestle chief executive officer (CEO) Paul Bulcke to recall Maggi from the Indian market. The plea has attracted over 27,000 signatures.

Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment’s 2012 study on Maggi noodles had found 4.2 gram of salt per 100 gram of Maggi noodles. The recommended daily intake of salt is 6 gram.

The India Medical Association (IMA) has also written to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, urging the government to test Maggi samples and suspend its sale.

Maggi still available in Delhi

Though the Delhi government was quick to respond to the Maggi controversy by banning its sale in city stores, consumers report that the popular noodles are still available in some places.

Rupela Mitra, a student, walked into a South Delhi departmental store and asked for a packet of Maggi, a day after it was banned in Delhi.

“The shopkeeper just stared at me. Despite the ban, he gave me the packet. I love Maggi, but the reaction of the people there was just unbelievable,” she said.

US wins poultry case against India at WTO

Author(s): Shreeshan Venkatesh @ 

India has been given 12-18 months to implement steps to lift the ban; failing which it would be heavily penalised

(Photo courtesy FAO)

An appellate body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled against India in a long-standing case over poultry imports from the United States of America. A dispute panel in Geneva stated on Thursday that India violated international trading norms by banning imports of poultry meat and eggs from the US. The ruling was in response to India’s appeal against a verdict given earlier by a US court.

As it happened:

In 2007, India had imposed the ban under the Indian Livestock Importation Act, 1898, as a safeguard measure against the spread of low pathogenic strains of avian influenza. While India claimed that the import restrictions were consistent with international rules on animal health, the WTO panel agreed with the US and declared that India’s measures were arbitrarily discriminatory and not in line with international standards.

The panel found that the impositions were “significantly more trade restrictive than required to achieve India's appropriate level of protection” and that “the United States had identified alternative measures that would achieve India's appropriate level of protection”. The panel further found that India’s measures violated core provisions of WTO’s agreement on sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards.

On March 6, 2012, the US had initiated proceedings in the WTO against India’s import ban. In October 2014, the WTO had ruled in favour of the US while stating that the Indian restrictions were not based on scientific principles and lacked sufficient supporting evidence. The ministry of commerce, in consultation with the ministry of animal husbandry, had appealed against the October 2014 verdict on January 26, 2015, and Thursday’s ruling is in response to this appeal.

The European Union, Australia, China, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Vietnam, Argentina and Brazil were the third parties in the dispute.

Jubilant US:

The Obama administration said the decision was a major victory and that it would open doors for American farmers. In a statement, US Trade Representative Michael Froman stated, "I welcome this win, which will help us eliminate unjustified trade barriers, so US farmers can sell high-quality US agricultural products to customers around the world."

India yet to respond:

India has been given 12-18 months to implement necessary steps to lift the ban. Delay beyond 18 months could lead the US government to impose trade sanctions on India equivalent to the losses sustained by the US.

India annually produces 3.5-4 million tonnes of chicken, making it the fourth largest producer of chicken in the world after the US, China and Brazil. According to conservative estimates issued by a US study in 2012, removal of import restrictions could give the American poultry exports a fillip of US $300 million. Incidentally, the US has witnessed widespread outbreaks of avian influenza in the midst of a global resurgence of the virus. India has also been affected as H5N1 avian influenza was confirmed in at least five states since late last year. According to World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), 620,272 birds have been culled in India since November 2014 due to avian influenza (H5N1). Fortunately, there have been no reported cases of human infections in the country. 

Global warming had never slowed down, says US study

Author(s): DTE Staff @ 

Temperature data collected by a variety of techniques from both land and sea have always been a source of concern, according to a section of scientists

According to scientists, global warming has been the same as it was during the last century (Credit: Chandra Bhushan)

A climate review conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that instead of slowing down, as many skeptics have time and again claimed, global warming has been the same as it was during the last century, reports say.

It seems that the so-called “missing heat” was there all along, according to an article published in Science, a premier academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) came up with the idea that temperature data collected over the past few decades suggested that global warming had actually slowed down around 1998. But the recent study by US-based NOAA scientists disputes IPCC’s claim, saying that inaccurate data caused the misinterpretation.

Temperature data:

In their study, NOAA scientists said that previous measurements of surface temperatures on both land and sea have underestimated the rate of warming over the past 15 years. When the figures were properly calibrated it becomes clear that warming continued as fast or even faster than before, they said.

The temperature data, which were collected by a variety of techniques, have been a source of concern, according to Thomas Karl, director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. Scientists have worked for years to improve corrections for bias in the data. “It’s an ongoing activity,” he says.

For much of the past two centuries, ocean temperatures were measured from ships by using a bucket thrown over the side. But different fleets used different measurement techniques and with the passage of time various types of buckets were used. Later, the buckets gave way to ship engine intake measurements. And by the end of the 20th century, far more accurate buoy measurements took over. Thus, each technique required different corrections.

Another problem was incorporating land-based readings from thousands of new measurement stations in regions that have long had scant coverage, such as Asia, South America, and Africa. New data from these three regions have been amassed over the past five years as part of the International Surface Temperature Initiative, which released its first report last year.

What scientists did?

In their paper, Karl’s team sums up the combined effect of additional land temperature stations, corrected commercial ship temperature data and corrected ship-to-buoy calibrations. The group estimates that the world warmed up at a rate of 0.086°C per decade between 1998 and 2012—more than twice the IPCC’s estimate of about 0.039°C per decade.

The new estimate, the researchers say, is much closer to the rate of 0.113°C per decade estimated for 1950 to 1999. From 2000 to 2014, the new analysis suggests a warming rate of 0.116°C per decade, which is slightly higher than the 20th century rate.

Arctic warming and global trends

In a bid to estimate how Arctic warming might alter global temperature trends, Karl’s team used a non-linear technique to fill in the data gaps for the polar region. Including the Arctic, they found, would add between 0.02°C and 0.03°C of warming per decade. Karl notes that this is just an estimate and was not included in the paper’s final re-analysis. Karl says his team will address the Arctic temperature issue next.

mmu and Kashmir High Court orders removal of Russian poplar trees

Jammu and Kashmir High Court orders removal of Russian poplar trees

Author(s): Vijdan Saleem @ 

The tree is believed to be a threat to health of locals

Russian poplar in Kashmir (Photo: Vijdan S Shah)

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has recently issued another order asking for removal ofRussian poplars across the Kashmir valley. Responding to the order, the state government, on June 7, said that "the order will take time to be implemented".The pollen seeds of these trees are said to cause respiratory problems.

Underscoring their potential threat to human health, the Jammu and Kashmir high court had, on May 5, said that tehsildars would be responsible for ensuring compliance with the orders passed by deputy commissionersfor felling of the trees. In April,the court had issued another order that was not implemented, following which the court directed the government to implement the order at the earliest possible and wherever necessary.

In his plea, plaintiff Ghulam Mohammad Bazaz of Srinagar said, “I had approached the deputy commissioner of Srinagar with a written application, stating that my neighbour has planted Russian poplar trees, causing serious health issues to my family, especially my ailing mother.”

The court, in one of its earlier judgments,had observed, “It is common knowledge that pollen seeds of poplars of Russian species adversely affect health of general public, mostly of elderly people and children. The pollen seeds of these trees have given rise to chest disease in the Valley.”

The court had also cited Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. “The right to life can only become meaningful, only if a person is healthy,” said the court. It has now ordered the implementation of its order issued in April without any further delay. In the earlier order, the court had ordered chopping of poplar trees and had imposed a ban on planting them.

Russian poplars

During summers, populous deltoids—female poplar—sheds a cotton-like material carrying seeds that cause allergy and aggravate respiratory disorders. This cotton has become an irritant in the recent past for the locals as well as tourists.

The name “Russian poplar” is a misnomer and has nothing to do with Russia. The variety of poplar trees was introduced in Kashmir in 1982from the US. Locally called as Russi Frass, the species takes less time (10-15 years) to grow, as compared to the Kashmir poplar that takes 30-40 years. However, experts say that the Kashmiri Poplar is harmless.

Due to their high yield, poplars are intensively used inthe timber and construction industry. However, due to cotton-like seeds that the species produces, it has become a pressing problem for the Valley. “It certainly aggravates respiratory diseases, the cotton-like substance is an irritant that causes allergies,” says Parvaiz Sajjad Shah, a doctor who treats lung patients in north Kashmir. “The irritation caused by the pollen results in running nose, red and watery eyes,” he adds.

Pluto's moons wobble chaotically

Author(s): DTE Staff @ 

Shifting gravitational field of Pluto-Charon double planet system behind the phenomenon, say scientists

Source: solarsystem.nasa.gov

NASA’s Hubble telescope has found that Pluto’s moons, Nix and Hydra, wobble unpredictably. “If you lived on one of Pluto's moons, you might have a hard time determining when, or from which direction, the sun will rise each day,” read a report published by NASA on June 3.

The wobbling takes place because the moons are under the effect of a gravitational field that keeps shifting. This happens because of the double planet system of Pluto and Charon. Called a double planet because of their common center of gravity, which is located in the space between the two bodies, the changing gravitational field makes the moons tumble, says the report. The effect gets exaggerated because of the football-like, rather than spherical, shape of the moons that are just tens of kilometres in diameter.

It is suspected that Pluto’s other two moons, Kerberos and Styx, also undergo the same phenomenon. The data also showed that while Kerberos is dark as charcoal, the other moons are light-coloured.

The findings were published online in Nature on June 3.