Contamination of food by chemicals can result from their use on agricultural commodities; accidents or misuse during food handling and processing; nucler weapon testing and operation of nuclear power plants; and disposal of industrial chemicals or by-products with subsequent dispersal into the environment. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as the Federal agency mainly responsible for eval...

A myotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and often fatal neuromuscular disease. Most people die within 2–5 years of being diagnosed with ALS (Mitsumoto, Chad, & Pioro, 1998). Community concerns about perceived clusters of cases of ALS have challenged public health agencies to consider the possible contribution of environmental contaminants to the development of this disease. The ge...

Transgenic plants expressing various species of the detoxifying enzyme, cytochrome P450 monooxigenase from mammals, were bred by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The transgenic plants metabolized exogenous chemicals, including herbicides which they were able to tolerate. Because the enzymes had broad substrate specificity, the transgenic plants showed crosstolerance to several herbicides,...

Environmental pollution in India has increased from uncontrolled emission of chemical pollutants from the Industries, automobiles and non-point sources where modern agricultural practices are used. These chemicals have contaminated the air, water, soil and their residues have been detected in drinking water, food and consumer products. Some of these are very persistent in the environment and ha...

An analysis of the hazards acompanying the aerial application of toxic pest-control chemicals is presented. The nature of the chemicals, the symptoms of toxicity, recommended treatment, and suggestions for safe-handling, are discussed. The introduction of the chlorinated, cyclic hydrocarbons for large-scale use as agricultural insecticides somewhat less than two decades ago, marked the beginnin...

present survey synthesized information on fish biodiversity in the perennial freshwater body of ramnagar, east midnapore district of west bengal, india. we documented 45 fish species under 29 genera, 18 families and 8 orders during the periods from1990 to 1995, whereas, 34 species from 21 genera and 12 families under 7 orders were recorded presently from freshwater body of different perennial p...