Emilio Godoy

MEXICO CITY, Aug 23 2010 (IPS) – What was initially announced as a government ban on sales of junk food in schools has failed to keep fried and sugary foods out of the classrooms to which Mexico s 25 million primary and secondary students returned Monday after summer break.
The aim of the regulations is to fight a growing obesity epidemic. But nutritionists and consumer groups say the guidelines are not strict or rigorous enough.

The guidelines on food that can be sold at shops in public and private schools in Mexico, which will become binding on Jan. 1, 2010, were issued by the governmental Federal Council for Regulatory Reform (COFEMER).

The regulations are a necessary, but not sufficient, step, Bernardo Ávila, a researcher at the National Nutr…

Irwin Loy

PHNOM PENH, Sep 16 2010 (IPS) – Twenty-nine-year-old Ramy shuddered as he described the years he has spent addicted to heroin. Lying to his family, stealing from friends to scrape together the money to feed his addiction until a few months ago, that was the life he led.

A drug user comes for his methadone dose, hopefully on the way out of the drug habit. Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS

But after joining Cambodia s first methadone maintenance treatment (MMT…

IPS Correspondents

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 8 2010 (IPS) – As nearly 25 years of development of a malaria vaccine come to fruition, health authorities across Africa will need to come to grips with how to effectively introduce it.

Malaria accounts for 20 percent of deaths of young children in Africa. Credit: Julien Harnels/Wikicommons

Phase III testing of a malaria vaccine involving up to 16,000 infants in seven African countries has begun; success could see a vaccine…

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Dec 13 2010 (IPS) – A plan to establish waste-to-energy plants in New Delhi as part of a carbon- trading programme has run into fierce opposition over hazards posed by toxic chemical byproducts.

Biomedical waste incinerator in the midst of Sukhdev Vihar in New Delhi. Credit: Ranjit Devraj /IPS

The government is mistaken if it believes that the citizens of Delhi are unaware of environmental issues, Gopal Krishna, convenor of the Toxics Alliance Wat…

Ashfaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR, Jan 26 2011 (IPS) – Pakistan became the world s top polio-endemic country in 2010 and is now the biggest source of the polio virus to countries declared polio-free many years ago. Due to the unrestricted movement of children along the long and porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, both countries have begun to put in place a joint strategy to stem the tide of the ailment.
About 200,000 children cross the border every year, said Rasheed Juma, director-general of health in Pakistan. Thousands of these children are not administered oral polio vaccine (OPV).

Ministers of health from Pakistan and Afghanistan have established a cross- border coordination committee to consider the operational challenges in tackling the transmission of polio in high-tr…

Elizabeth Whitman

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 31 2011 (IPS) – A new report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released Thursday found progress in combating HIV/AIDS worldwide to be promising, yet inadequate to meet the needs of the 33.3 million people estimated to be living with HIV in 2009.
The report, entitled Uniting for universal access: towards zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS- related deaths, assessed major obstacles in the path to this ideal world.

The secretary-general listed five recommendations to help bridge the gap between this vision and the reality for people living with HIV/AIDS, calling for a prevention revolution that relies upon the energy of young people and new methods of communication to empower people to protect themselves fr…

ZOLtán Dujisin

CHERNOBYL, Apr 30 2011 (IPS) – In the aftermath of the anniversary of the worst nuclear disaster in history, Ukrainian authorities have pledged not to abandon those still in need of assistance. But many of the country s policies may be increasing the risk of a new catastrophe.

Abandoned houses close to the Chernobyl plant behind. Credit: Alina Rudya/IPS.

In April 1986 an explosion at reactor four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 100km north of the capital Kiev, lead to the release of massive …

WASHINGTON, Jun 3 2011 (IPS) – Today one billion people are living in hunger, not because of scarcity of production or a shortage of food on shelves in the global marketplace, but because they lack the most basic purchasing power needed to acquire it , Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, said Thursday.
Enter the Transnationals
At a panel entitled “Feeding the World While Caring for the Planet”, representatives from the U.S. Agency for International Development joined with De Schutter to discuss the U.S. government’s latest Feed the Future Initiative.
While seemingly aligned with the policies and recommendations of leading ecological and environmental experts, the initiative has generated tremendous controversy since Rajiv Shah,…

Elizabeth Whitman

NEW YORK, Jul 20 2011 (IPS) – Survey your surroundings and you ll discover that coal ash waste from coal burned to produce electricity is more present in everyday life than you might expect. To name a few places: toothpaste, cosmetics, wallboard, cement, and agricultural and winter de-icing products.
Coal ash, also known as coal combustion residues (CCRs), and its beneficial uses recycling it in commercial, consumer, or agricultural products- have lately been an area of controversy between those who seek greater regulation of coal ash reuse and those who unwaveringly promote it as economically and environmentally beneficial.

The U.S. (EPA) promotes the beneficial use of coal ash, but reports indicate that the agency is not fully aware of the potenti…

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Aug 24 2011 (IPS) – If India s powerful central government that rules over the destinies of 1.2 billion people quails before a slight 74-year-old man, it is because he is armed with a weapon that has rarely failed in this country extreme renunciation through a fast-unto-death.

Doctors continuously monitor the health of Anna Hazare, sitting on a protest fast-unto-death. Credit: Anjan Mitra/IPS

The present expone…