“India needs a paradigm shift in the way it manages its people’s health. It needs to move its public health policy from disease control towards prevention, focusing on water and sanitation, safe food and clean environment. In fact, the role of the ministry of health and family welfare should be recast to enable this shift:” This was one of the conclusions drawn at the end of the two-day conference on Food Safety and Environmental Toxins, organized here by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Speakers at the conference — among whom were T Ramasami, secretary, department of science and technology; Keshav Desiraju, secretary, department of health and family welfare; K Chandramouli, chairperson, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India; Rakesh Kacker, secretary, ministry of food processing industries; and CSE director general Sunita Narain – also pointed out that “policymaking in India remains largely within the government, and there is a need to evolve a transparent process which will involve the civil society as well”.

This conference was organized to mark a decade of work by CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Lab, which has been instrumental in carrying out some seminal studies in testing for toxins in food and environment. In this context, the conference underlined the need for more such independent labs to support community struggles on pollution and health issues (see earlier press release on our website, www.cseindia.org).

On pesticide regulations

Most speakers were of the opinion that the government should move pesticide registration from the control of the ministry of agriculture to either health or environment, with bio-safety as the main mandate.

“There is a need to review all registered pesticides taking into account comparative risk assessment (especially for vulnerable groups like children) and deregister toxic and obsolete pesticides. We should also review and set MRLs based on ADI for all food commodities, including processed and packaged foods,” said Chandra Bhushan, CSE’s deputy director general and head of its Food Safety Programme.

The conference called for publication of an annual report on the status of pesticide contamination in the country. The process of this publication should be transparent, with participation from the civil society. It also asked for a review of what the state agricultural universities are recommending to farmers and set up systems to take strict action for prescribing illegal pesticides.

On organic farming

“Organic and non-pesticide farming is showing encouraging results across the country. However, the support of the governments to these practices is negligible. Subsidies should be moved away from pesticides and fertilizers towards ecologically sustainable alternatives both at the production and market ends,” says Chandra Bhushan, summarizing the conference’s key message on this issue.

On junk food

The conference recognized the need for an appropriate regulatory framework to monitor junk food advertisements specifically targeted towards children. It also stressed on strengthening labeling norms specifically related to nutritional information. Speaking in the session on junk food, Sunita Narain said: “Junk food should be banned in schools.”

NGO News Desk :: Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Wiki..the age of new media is fast evolving as a major outreach tool to draw public opinion. It is absolutely necessary for media houses to stay plugged in, thus the constant competition to reinvent their information dissemination, communication and outreach strategy accordingly.

To meet the highest potential of the new media tools, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is organising a three-days workshop on how to leverage new media technologies for advocacy and strategic communication.

CSE invites journalists from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives to apply for the workshop till January 20, 2013.

Course Fee: INR 9,600 per participant. Accommodation and related costs are not included in the cost. However, CSE can help you find a place to stay. Program will be held in January 29-31, 2013 in New Delhi.

Some fellowships are available for journalists from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives. Kindly send in your application to Kiran Pandey at [email protected] with the following details.

The workshop module includes

>> The new media landscape > the channels, influence on communication and social change, reaching out to stakeholders

>> Integrating print, electronic, web and the social media

>> E-mail for outreach

>> Blogging > installing and managing blog

>> Using social media strategically >  Facebook, Twitter

>> Reaching out through Wikipedia > sharing knowledge, research and resources

>> How to use photos on the web

>> How to use videos on the web

>> How to improve the website ranking > focus on search engine optimisation

>> New media metrics > understanding web statistics, facebook/twitter statistics