My Blogs : Nuclear Issues ; Radiation Protection Issues ; My Voice

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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

SOFT DRINKS – SERIOUS HEALTH HAZARD?

Sometime back it was pesticides in the soft drinks, and now it is the research findings (reported in the newspapers) that it can cause severe damage to DNA in the cells. Let us see what the soft drink like Coke or Pepsi contains:

Sugar – 10.2 gm per 100 gm of the drink, Preservatives, Stabilizers, Caffeine and added flavours? One hundred milliliter of a cold drink (half a glass), say 100 ml of coke contains 40.4 Kcal of energy. The daily requirement of healthy human is around 2 Kcal. Half a glass of coke contains 20 times higher amount of calories than required. Ultimately, the human system will not be able to utilize so much sugar and the percentage of diabetics in the country will be multiplied. The label on the bottles also indicates the presence of a well- known addictive drug Caffeine.

Now let us see the repercussions of drinking of the soft drinks:

1. Adults and even children do not need so many calories of energy. Obesity may be the outcome of such calorie intakes
2. The DNA damage can ultimately result in Cancer or cause Parkinson’s or Liver Cirrhosis (as reported )
3. Sodium benzoate is used as a preservative. Vitamin C is one of the components used in some of the soft drinks. The two chemicals react to form Benzene, which is a known carcinogenic compound.
4. Caffeine is an addictive drug. Children get addicted to the soft drinks probably due to this component in the soft drink.

Now make sure that your dear ones are not overexposed to these drinks.

Friday, May 25, 2007

GO MOBILE – BUT IN A SAFE WAY

In view of the exponentially increasing usage of mobile phones, there has been much apprehension worldwide about the health concerns (thermal as well non-thermal biological effects) of its prolonged (a few hours a day!) use. Once upon a time its use was “once in a while” or occasional. Parents often give mobile phones to children to play with! Landlines are being replaced by mobiles.

Keeping in mind the uncertainty and the gaps in our knowledge about the health effects of exposure to Radio Frequency (RF) radiation, particularly due to its prolonged usage, it is not advisable to completely rule out adverse health effects, even at levels of RF exposures below the available international guidelines. It is reported that the latest Bluetooth devices also use RF with the spectrum in the range 2.4 GHz to 2.4835 GHz. The power output from a typical Class 3 Bluetooth device is 1 mW/square cm, which is of the same order of the limit for exposure of RF from cell-phones, which uses RF of 0.9 GHz (900 MHz). In fact, the Bluetooth devices are for attachment to the ear all the time. This may do irreversible damage to the ear internals.

Hence, it is advisable to have precautionary approaches such as:
i) Using the cell-phones only occasionally for passing on the messages and for small
talk. Do not use the mobiles for gossip.
ii) Do not stand directly in front of and very close to microwave antennas.
iii) Find out its RF emission levels / SAR Value before its purchase.
iv) Use hand-free types to minimize the exposure to head and neck region.
v) Avoid exposure of the children and pregnant women to RF radiation from mobile
phones.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Biggest loser jeethega kya?

The above 4 months realty show program shown on Sahara One, is one of the ill-conceived programs putting the lives of the participants at great risk. I do not think that all the pros and cons of the program were researched seriously by the organizers. For one, we are already tired of the monotonous voice, without any emotions of the Anchor Mr. Suneil Shetty. One fails to understand the fun of throwing one participant out every week without even giving them a chance to follow and practice the daily workouts. At least, six weeks time should be given for the participants to get set in the new work regime. Mind you they may not be fit health-wise. In their anxiety to remain in the show the participants may over strain and land in serious health problems? Mere presence of doctors may not really help in preventing undesirable health problems. We don’t need post accident research but we must ensure these do not take place in the first place. The Organizers of the show may wash off their hands. Isn’t it unethical to do so?

Precious TV time is spent on weighing the participants. The possibly interesting details of participant’s day’s program, their diet, etc are not shown to make it worthwhile. It is necessary that the channel should prevail upon the show managers to take all the precautions for the foreseen or unseen eventualities of keeping the obese participants hungry and making them do things which they would not have done before. Already there is one casualty. The actual facts (like thyroid problem) about their health might have been hidden just to get entry into the show. Mr. Shetty, are you hearing?

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

HOW SAFE ARE BUILDINGS IN MUMBAI AND NAVI MUMBAI AGAINST EARTH QUAKES?

It is reported that Mumbai and Navi Mumbai lie in seismically prone Zone 3, where earthquakes of magnitude above 6 on the Richter scale is possible. This calls for construction of earthquake - resistant buildings. Union Home ministry recently promulgated an order making it compulsory for all new buildings to be built on earth-quake resistant designs. Even the older buildings need to be assessed for their strength and to be strengthened if necessary. The standards for the design are available with the Bureau of Indian Standards / National Building Codes. Taller and taller buildings, exceeding some even exceeding 40 floors are being built in populated areas of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. It is also reported that buildings up to the height of 70 meters (about 20 stories) have better chance to survive the possible earthquakes.

Most of the towers in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai are built on reclaimed land, marshy land or on salt – pans with soft underbelly. These days, concerns are mainly commercial. Safety is given backseat. There are chemical, petrochemical and nuclear industries in and around Mumbai built over the years which would not have been followed the norms, which are now applicable. The public concerns are:

How the authorities ensure and make certain that compliance of the earthquake resistant norms? Do the authorities carryout any inspections during the construction stage? What about certification of the old tower buildings, which were not constructed as per the new norms? Who is the authority to be addressed if somebody wants to lodge complaint on any builder not following the norms? Is the authority empowered to take action against non-complying but powerful builders?

There are thousands of human lives at stake.

Will somebody answer these relevant questions?

Thursday, May 17, 2007

EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

Africa is the poorest continent in the world. The effect of global warming is reported to affect the continent’s wildlife considerably. The poor countries in the continent are not in a position, economically to do much to address this global phenomenon. Or, whether the African countries are paying environmental penalties for the emissions of the developed countries? They continue to emit the gases to support their energy requirements to sustain industrial developments.

Probably, the forestry is the main revenue earner for many countries of the continent. However, South Africa is far more developed and reported to be contributing to the emission of greenhouse gases significantly. That is 318 million tones of carbon dioxide (2003 data). During the same year United States released 5871 million tones! Global green house gas emissions exceed 25 billion tones annually.

Another major contribution may be from methane gas, which is produced during the decay of vegetation - trees, leaves and other forestry products. Methane is a much stronger, more effective greenhouse gas as compared to carbon dioxide. One should look at this seriously since industrial emissions are low due to under development of the African counties.