Green activists to Sarsai Nawar wetland rescue in Kanpur

KANPUR: A group of students from College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology (CAET), Etawah accompanied by wildlife activists and members of an NGO, visited Sarsai Nawar wetland of the district as part of a campaign named 'Techfest Green Campus Challenge' organised by IIT-Mumbai to conserve ecologically sensitive spots in the region.

Monil Girdhar, a third year Btech student at CAET, who is also representing his college team called 'Green Step' in the campaign, said, "As part of the campaign, we are conducting an assessment of wetlands which are an important part of our ecosystem but are on the verge of extinction. Rampant encroachments and apathetic attitude of authorities concerned are the primary factors behind their destruction."

During a recent survey, it was found that the wetlands in Mainpuri and Etawah districts are breathing their last with rampant encroachments in and around these water bodies, he said. "During a survey in Sarsai Nawar, startling facts came to the fore. People have been allotted 'patta' on the wetlands for agricultural and fishing practices by the authorities, which is shocking," said Ujjawal Kumar Tripathi, another student of CAET. He said the measures adopted by the authorities are of no use. "The plan of maintaining wetlands is good, provided it is taken up seriously by the forest department with the participation of locals," he said. "Migratory birds come here every year. More importantly, the place is home of the state bird Sarus," he added.

"On Saturday, we came across a huge flock of nearly 200 Sarus (grus antigione) birds besides darters, pikes, kingfishers, ibis, painted stork, black neck stork, cormorant and lesser whistling teel at Sarsai Nawar wetland with the Green Step team," said Rajiv Chauhan, secretary, society for conservation of nature.He said these wetlands, besides being a natural habitat to lakhs of migratory birds from Middle East, China and Siberia besides other West Asian countries, play a vital role in balancing the very fragile ecosystem in the region. "We will educate the villagers by telling them about the shrinking wetlands, their importance and protection," said, Sanket Mishra, another student of CAET and member of Green Step.

As per the earlier records, out of 161.27 ha of wetland in Etawah, 64.48 ha was in the possession of farmers of six villages including Chhota Udaipur, Bal Singh, Kishanpura, Daulatpur, Sarsai Nawar and Kuberpura and the rest was with the gram panchayat. Analysis of the data indicated that nearly 64 per cent of the area owned by the farmers was in the wetlands.More than half of the earnings of the families come from the land they cultivate within the wetland and another one third from cultivation outside it. Sanjiv Chauhan, a volunteer of society for conservation of nature recalled that Etawah suburbs had abundant wetlands which vanished following regular allotment of fishing-patta contracts by the Fishery department of the district."Nearly 10 hectares of wetlands in Sarsai Nawar are under Fishery department in Etawah district, which further swallowed the rich wetlands of the belt by regular allotment of the wetlands to the Machua community living in and around the five wetlands of Etawah district. Besides, the wetland in Sarsai-Nawar is also being used by farmers for agricultural purposes these days. The government should take urgent steps to save our wetlands before it is too late," said Chauhan. He said Sarsai-Nawar, Rohini-Hardoi, Samthar, Sarawa and Ramayana should be declared as protected areas.

According to government records, there are over 100 water bodies in Etawah and Mainpuri districts and are in the possession of either patta holders, Nagar Nigam, revenue and private parties. But many exist only on record. "The best way to protect wetlands is not by legislation but by making people aware of what they stand to lose if this ecosystem perishes. An awareness programme should therefore be given top priority," said Shivam, a wildlife enthusiast. To check depletion of wetlands, earth filling in the wet and low-lying areas should be stopped, he said.

Shri Kishan, a former village head, said, "Wetlands like Sarsai Nawar are shrinking with each passing day because of the pressure of encroachment. The Sarsai Nawar is half the size of what I had seen in the 80s. We had even started bird-watching at Sarsai-Nawar in 1985.

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Doha climate talks: India not to enhance its pledge of reducing emissions

DOHA: The Union environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan may not come to the climate talks but the Indian delegation here led by special secretary M Mehrishi has got the nod from the cabinet to draw its strong redlines at the Doha round of UN negotiations.

The government has ordered the Indian delegation at Doha to not enhance its pledge of reducing emissions intensity at Doha and reiterated that the three critical issues of equity, intellectual property and unilateral actions by governments remain steadfast on the table.

It has approved the note which criticized EU for shifting the goal post yet again and resell the commitment to operationalise the Kyoto Protocol's second commitment period. The delegates are now empowered to negotiate an un-conditional approval of the protocol's second phase starting 2013.

The formal approval from the government comes at a time that the Doha talks have got log-jammed with the developed countries refusing to even discuss issues of value to the developing world, such as a timeline for delivering finance, adaptation, equity and unilateral actions under what is called the Long Term Cooperation Action (LCA) track. The track is to shut down this year and the developing countries want to move the unresolved issues from the track to the future talks which the rich nations have blocked so far.

The cabinet orders, unlike previous years come with no caveat or space for flexibility for the Indian delegation at Doha. They have commanded the delegation to ensure the pending issues find homes in future negotiations.

The orders prohibit the delegation from agreeing to any new obligations in the guise of supplementary actions unless they are taken in keeping with the provisions of the convention and only when the means of implementing such actions - finance and technology - are made available.

All commitments for future, the cabinet order requires, must be made realizing the historical responsibility and the principle of equity.

The Cabinet has also decided that any new obligation to reduce emissions through 'supplementary actions' should only be undertaken in adherence to the existing UN climate conventions and on availability of funds and technologies.

The cabinet has asked the delegation to work closely with the G77 plus China group, the BASIC formation and the new configuration called the Like Minded Developing Countries.

On the Durban Platform negotiations, the cabinet has approved that the Indian team secure a plan of work guided by the fifth IPCC review, the review of the convention itself, international consultation and analysis, international consultations, the biennial reports and updates and the national communications.

With the minister missing in action as the government fighting off the challenge from the opposition in the Parliament on the issue of foreign direct investment in the retail sector, the firm and unconditional orders from the cabinet are expected to steer the Indian position at Doha.

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Genes behind low birth weight, adult shortness and diabetes identified

LONDON: An international team of genetics researchers has discovered four new gene regions that contribute to low birth weight - three of those regions influence adult metabolism, and appear to affect longer-term outcomes such as adult height, risk of type 2 diabetes and adult blood pressure.

"This large study adds to the evidence that genes have a strong influence on fetal growth," said one of the co-authors, Struan F.A. Grant, Ph.D., associate director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"The cumulative effect of the genes is surprisingly strong; it's equivalent to the effect of maternal smoking, which is already recognized as lowering a baby's weight at birth. We already know that a low birth weight increases the risk of health problems in adult life," he noted.

The research was the second major study on birth weight by the Early Growth Genetics (EGG) Consortium, composed of groups of scientists from multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands, and the United States.

Earlier this year, Grant was the lead investigator of an EGG study--the largest-ever genome-wide study of common childhood obesity--which found two novel gene variants that increase the risk of that condition.

The lead investigator of the current study was Rachel M. Freathy, Ph.D., a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow from the University of Exeter Medical School in the U.K.

The meta-analysis and follow-up study encompassed nearly 70,000 individuals, of European, Arab, Asian and African American descent, from across 50 separate studies of pregnancy and birth. In addition to confirming that three previously discovered genetic regions increased the risk of low birth weight, the consortium discovered four new regions: genes HMGA2, LCORL, ADRB1, and a locus on chromosome 5.

Two of the previously identified gene regions are connected to a risk of type 2 diabetes, while two of the newly found regions confer a risk of shorter adult stature. A third region, ADRB1, is associated with adult blood pressure--the first time that scientists have found a genetic link common to both birth weight and blood pressure.

The biological mechanisms by which the identified genetic regions function to influence early growth and adult metabolism remain to be discovered, although, said Grant, these regions offer intriguing areas on which to focus follow-up research.

"These discoveries give us important clues to the mechanisms responsible for the control of a baby's growth in the womb, and may eventually lead to a better understanding of how to manage growth problems during pregnancy," said Freathy, the study's lead investigator.

"This study demonstrates that genes acting early in development have important effects on health both in childhood and beyond. While we continue to learn more about the biology, an important implication is that designing prenatal interventions to improve birth weight could have lifelong health benefits," added Grant.

The article has been published in Nature Genetics.

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Carbion dioxide emissions to touch 35.6 billion tonnes in 2012

LONDON: Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are projected to rise by 2.6 per cent by the end of 2012, reaching a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes, or 58 per cent above 1990 levels, the baseline year for the Kyoto Protocol, says a study.

The findings of Global Carbon Project (GCP), co-led by researchers from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia (UEA), say the biggest contributors to global emissions in 2011 were China (28 percent), the US (16 percent), the European Union (11 percent), and India (seven percent), the journal Nature Climate Change reports.

Emissions in China and India grew by 9.9 and 7.5 percent, respectively, in 2011, while those of the US and the European Union decreased by 1.8 and 2.8 per cent, respectively, according to a UEA statement.

Emissions per person in China of 6.6 tonne of CO2 were nearly as high as those of the European Union (7.3). But still below the 17.2 tonne of carbon used in the US. Emissions in India were lower at 1.8 tonne of carbon per person.

Corinne Le Quere, professor and director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and professor at UEA, said: "These latest figures come amidst climate talks in Doha. But with emissions continuing to grow, it's as if no-one is listening to the entire scientific community."

The 2012 rise further opens the gap between real-world emissions and those required to keep global warming below the international target of two degrees.

Lead author Glen Peters of the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research, Norway, who led the study, said: "Scaling up similar energy transitions across more countries can kick-start global mitigation with low costs. To deepen and sustain these energy transitions in a broad range of countries requires aggressive policy drivers."

Emissions from deforestation and other land-use change added 10 per cent to the emissions from burning fossil fuels. The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere reached 391 parts per million (ppm) at the end of 2011.

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rising carbon dioxide levels lowering rice yields

BERLIN: Rising levels of carbon dioxide are lowering the high grain yields of dwarf rice varieties, says a new research from Germany.

A dwarf variety called IR8, which has now disappeared almost completely from the market, succeeded in protecting humanity against global famine in the 1960s and was in the vanguard of Green Revolution.

Declining yields from IR8 prompted Bernd Muller-Rober from the Max Planck Institute and colleagues from the University of Potsdam to explore whether it was linked to rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), up by 25 percent since the 1960s.

Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (generally known as thale cress), researchers were able to observe that a higher CO2 concentration results in freeing the capacity of dwarf plant to form gibberellic acid, according to a institute statement.

The CO2 appears to have the same growth-stimulating effect as that triggered by the gibberellic acid. Thus, in the experiment, the dwarf plants gradually lost their advantage and increasingly resembled the ordinary plants.

"Breeders now face the challenge of developing new plants that can continue to provide good yields under the altered climatic conditions," said Jos Schippers, study co-author.

The cultivation of dwarf varieties is not only common in the case of rice, farmers also prefer short-stalked varieties of wheat; both cereals are the staple food consumed by a majority of the global population.

The researchers are now looking for the mechanism through which the gaseous carbon dioxide influences the growth of the plants.

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Solar energy reduces electricity bill by 7.42 lakh

LUCKNOW: Use of solar appliances has helped in reducing government's electricity bills by Rs 7.42 lakhs. This became possible after solar appliances helped in generating an average of 1.83 lakh units of power every month for Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhavan which is better known as the state annexe.

The development has given officials in the power starved state a reason to smile. There are some 20 government buildings in the state that consume volumes of power each day to fulfill the usual demand of lights, fans and air conditioning. Electricity is also needed to run the elevators and provide a back up to computer servers. The energy saved would therefore be a significant contribution to the pool.

Take the example of the state annexe. As per data gathered from electricity maintenance division of public works department, the annexe building consumed 4.67 lakh units of electricity per month last year. This time however, the average consumption of power stands at 2.84 lakh units per month. This has reflected in the electricity bill for annexe. Against an average bill of 18.91 lakh per month in the previous year, the annexe building's power consumption generated a bill of Rs 11.49 lakhs per month. Considering the trend, experts estimate an overall saving of Rs 89 lakh units for the year.

In another development, energy saving efforts undertaken by officials at Bapu Bhavan - a complex of offices for government babus - have been able to bring down their electricity bills from 3.38 lakh units per month in 2010 to 2.28 lakh units in 2011.

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Islam and the climate debate

DOHA, Qatar: At Friday prayers in Qatar's most popular mosque, the imam discussed the civil war in Syria, the unrest in Egypt and the UN endorsement of an independent state of Palestine.

Not a word about climate change, even though the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar is hosting a UN conference where nearly 200 countries are trying to forge a joint plan to fight global warming, which climate activists say is the greatest modern challenge to mankind.

"Unfortunately the Arab and Islamic countries have political and economic problems," said Adham Hassan, a worshipper from Jordan streaming out of the al-Khatabb mosque in Doha. "Islam calls for the protection of the environment, but the Muslim countries are mostly poor and they didn't cause pollution and aren't affected by climate change."

Of six mosques contacted by The Associated Press in the Qatari capital, only one included an environmental message in the Friday prayers, telling those in attendance to plant trees, shun extravagance and conserve water and electricity.

The Quran, Islam's holy book, is filled with more than 1,500 verses to nature and Earth. Yet the voice of Islamic leaders is missing from the global dialogue on warming.

That disappoints Muslim environmental activists, who believe the powerful pull of Islam could be the ideal way to change behavior in both poor countries, where many people's main source of information is the mosque, and in some wealthy countries like Qatar where Islam remains important even as rapid growth has made it the world's top per capita emitter of carbon dioxide.

"It's absolutely frustrating," said Fazlun Khalid, founder of the U.K.-based Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, which oversees projects around the world that use Islamic teachings to combat problems ranging from deforestation to overfishing.

"We get very little support from Muslims," he said. "They don't connect. We have to wake them up to the fact their existence is threatened by their own behavior. Modernity and the economic development paradigm is about dominating nature. Islam, as you are aware, is submission to the will of the creator. We need to remind ourselves that we have to submit."

As the annual UN climate conference neared its halfway point in Doha, the usual splits opened up between rich and poor nations over how to divide the burden - and financial cost - of protecting the world from overheating.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres lamented that she didn't see "much public interest, support, for governments to take on more ambitious and more courageous decisions."

"Each one of us needs to assume responsibility. It's not just about domestic governments," she said.

The talks are aimed at limiting the level of warming to 2 degrees C (3.6 F), compared to temperatures before the industrial revolution. So the main focus is to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases that a vast majority of climate scientists say is to blame for the rising temperatures.

That goal gets more difficult to reach ever year. Temperatures have already risen about 0.8 degrees C (1.4 degrees F), according to the latest report by the U.N.'s scientific panel on climate change. And a series of reports before and during the conference warned that global emissions are still increasing, primarily driven by the rapid growth of emerging economies such as China and India.

World religions are seeking a more active role in climate change and sustainability issues. The Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change project - endorsed by Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism - was a regular presence at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009, while the Dalai Lama has repeatedly called on governments to take climate change more seriously. Religious leaders in the United States have launched a movement known as "green religion" or "eco-theology, with groups like the Evangelical Environmental Network endorsing clean energy and calling on people to consume less.

Muslims are also slowly heeding the call.

Egypt's government-appointed Muslim Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, also known at the green mufti, has been outspoken on pollution and climate change, calling them greater threats than war, according to the consultancy Green Compass Research. The holy month of Ramadan has taken on a greener theme, with Muslims across the Middle East and the United States using it to touch on food waste and sustainability. Small-scale campaigns using Islam including one aimed at turtle conservation in Malaysia and illegal mining in Indonesia have been rolled out.

"It's becoming a more important part of Islamic discourse, a more holistic approach to what it means to be a responsible Muslim in the world today," said Tamara Sonn, a humanities professor at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. "There are greater levels of education and overall global awareness of the importance of environmental concerns facilitated by advances in communication, the Internet."

But Muslim environmental activists say more could be done.

Too often, they complain, discussions of the role of Islam and the environment are limited to conferences. They say religious leaders could issue fatwas on the environment, and governments could introduce curriculums in schools highlighting themes found in the Quran such as the importance of nature, treating animals compassionately and the prohibition on wastefulness.

"The majority of Muslim scholars, leaders, and activists whose major concerns are ritualistic and the legalistic aspects of Islam, themselves have not seen the environmental issues and problems as their immediate concern," Muhamad Ali, assistant professor Islamic Studies University of California, Riverside, said in an email. "While they focus on the purity and validity of a ritual act, they lack understanding and awareness of the immediacy and cruciality of the environment crisis as a common problem. Besides, like other monotheists in general, they see human beings as superior over the natural world."

Khalid has seen first-hand how Islam can persuade Muslims to change their ways on sustainability issues. He once went to Zanzibar after conservation groups failed to persuade fishermen to stop using dynamite on coral reefs. After leading several workshops that leaned heavily on Quranic teachings, he said the fishermen never again used destructive practices.

"They stopped dynamiting coral reefs in 24 hours," said Khalid, who has similar successes in Nigeria and Pakistan with forest protection. "It had a profound impact on the local fishermen. One of the fishermen told me that we can disobey the laws of the government but we can't disobey the laws of the creator."

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Seeking renewable energy, Poland looks to sea wind

SOPOT (POLAND): Seeking renewable energy to meet EU recommendations and cut dependence on Russian energy imports, Poland is looking to offshore wind farms as part of the answer.

The government has granted 14 licenses for development of wind farms on the Baltic Sea and will review more than two dozen more this year, Transport Minister Slawomir Nowak said on Friday at an energy conference in the Baltic resort of Sopot.

Nowak said northern Poland could be the nation's energy hub and exporter as wind, nuclear, liquid and shale gas projects are being pursued in the region.

Poland is overly reliant on Russia for its energy, importing nearly 70 percent of its gas and 90 percent of its crude oil from its historic foe that has used energy as a political tool. The two countries share a difficult history, including decades of control by Moscow over Poland during the Cold War.

Now, the Polish government is trying to decrease Russia's control over its energy market, and at the same time meet European Union recommendations to increase renewable energy sources by 2030. Poland is also phasing out coal production to meet goals to reduce carbon emissions.

Nowak said legislation is being amended to allow floating wind farms to be installed on the Baltic Sea, where wind conditions are "very good." There is no date for opening the first farm, because experts need to test their possible effects on the environment. They also must convince residents and fishermen that artificial islands on the Baltic will offer new workplaces and won't ruin the region's fishing industry or its value for vacationers.

So far, five of the license holders have paid their fees to the state budget, totaling 90 million zlotys ($29 million.)

The need to save energy _ on the grid level and at home _ was also discussed during the two-day Energy Forum of government officials and experts from Europe, the United States and China, that closed on Friday.

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Grand Canyon as old as the dinosaurs: Study

CHICAGO: People can be startled at the depth of the Grand Canyon. Now, scientists say dinosaurs may have been, too -- the mighty gouge in the earth is that old.

Scientists have long argued over the age of the multicolored canyon, which is over a mile deep (nearly two kilometers) as many as 18 miles wide (29 kilometers) and 280 miles long (450 kilometers.)

Most believe it was carved out about five or six million years ago, based on the age of gravel washed downstream by the ancestral Colorado River.

But new dating methods which harness the radioactive decay of uranium showed it is far, far older, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

"Our research implies that the Grand Canyon was directly carved to within a few hundred meters of its modern depth by about 70 million years ago," said co-author Rebecca Flowers of the University of Colorado Boulder.

Researchers believe the canyon was likely carved at different times and paces.

Flowers and her colleagues has previously shown that parts of the eastern section of the Grand Canyon likely developed about 55 million years ago and have subsequently eroded much further.

This latest study examines mineral grains from the bottom of the western part of the canyon.

"An ancient Grand Canyon has important implications for understanding the evolution of landscapes, topography, hydrology and tectonics in the western US and in mountain belts more generally," Flowers said in a statement.

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Giving new life to vultures to restore a human ritual of death

MUMBAI: Fifteen years after vultures disappeared from Mumbai's skies, the Parsi community here intends to build two aviaries at one of its most sacred sites so that the giant scavengers can once again devour human corpses.

Construction is scheduled to begin as soon as April, said Dinshaw Rus Mehta, chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet. If all goes as planned, he said, vultures may again consume the Parsi dead by January 2014.

"Without the vultures, more and more Parsis are choosing to be cremated," Mr. Mehta said. "I have to bring back the vultures so the system is working again, especially during the monsoon."

The plan is the result of six years of negotiations between Parsi leaders and the Indian government to revive a centuries-old practice that seeks to protect the ancient elements — air, earth, fire and water — from being polluted by either burial or cremation. And along the way, both sides hope the effort will contribute to the revival of two species of vulture that are nearing extinction. The government would provide the initial population of birds.

The cost of building the aviaries and maintaining the vultures is estimated at $5 million spread over 15 years, much less expensive than it would have been without the ready supply of food.

"Most vulture aviaries have to spend huge sums to buy meat, but for us that's free because the vultures will be feeding on human bodies — on us," Mr. Mehta said.

Like the vultures on which they once relied, Parsis are disappearing. Their religion, Zoroastrianism, once dominated Iran but was largely displaced by Islam. In the 10th century, a large group of Zoroastrians fled persecution in Iran and settled in India. Fewer than 70,000 remain, most of them concentrated in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, where they collectively own prime real estate that was purchased centuries ago.

Among the most valuable of these holdings are 54 acres of trees and winding pathways on Malabar Hill, one of Mumbai's most exclusive neighborhoods. Tucked into these acres are three Towers of Silence where Parsis have for centuries disposed of their dead.

The stone towers are open-air auditoriums containing three concentric rings of marble slabs — an outer ring for dead men, middle ring for deceased women and inner ring for dead children. For centuries, bodies left on the slabs were consumed within hours by neighborhood vultures, with the bones left in a central catchment to leach into the soil.

Modernity has impinged on this ancient practice in many ways. That includes the construction of nearby skyscrapers where non-Parsis could watch the grisly scenes unfold. But by far the greatest threat has been the ecological disaster visited in recent years on vultures.

India once had as many as 400 million vultures, a vast population that thrived because the nation has one of the largest livestock populations in the world but forbids cattle slaughter. When cows died, they were immediately set upon by flocks of vultures that left behind skin for leather merchants and bones for bone collectors. As recently as the 1980s, even the smallest villages often had thousands of vulture residents.

But then came diclofenac, a common painkiller widely used in hospitals to lessen the pain of the dying. Marketed under names like Voltaren, it is similar to the medicines found in Advil and Aleve; in 1993 its use in India was approved in cattle. Soon after, vultures began dying in huge numbers because the drug causes them to suffer irreversible kidney failure.

Diclofenac's veterinarian use has since been banned, which may finally be having an effect. A recent study found that for the first time since the drug's introduction, India's vulture population did not decline over the past year.

Still, the numbers for three species have shrunk to only a few thousand, a tiny fraction of their former levels. With so few vultures left, the Parsi community set up mirrors around the Towers of Silence to create something akin to solar ovens to accelerate decomposition. But the mirrors are ineffective during monsoon months. So an increasing number of Parsis are opting for cremation, a practice many Parsi priests believe is an abomination since fire is sacred and corpses unclean.

Desperate to maintain one of their most important rituals, Parsi leaders have created detailed plans to build the aviaries near the Towers of Silence, each housing 76 vultures. Parsi leaders say they are waiting for formal approval from community members, doctors and priests before beginning construction, approvals they expect to receive over the next several weeks.

But Homi B. Dhalla, president of the World Zarathushti Cultural Foundation, has promised to fight the plans. He helped to develop the tower solar collectors and said they were working well. And he is worried that once the government provides vultures for Parsi aviaries, bureaucrats will try to seize the land.

"Why endanger our property?" Dr. Dhalla asked. "Who is going to fight the government?"

Another concern is whether Parsis can be persuaded to stop using diclofenac. Nearly all of the roughly 800 bodies brought annually to the towers come from two Parsi hospitals, and doctors and family would have to certify that the deceased had not been given diclofenac in the three days before death. There is no simple test to detect the drug, and if vultures in the aviaries die from diclofenac poisoning after eating Parsi corpses the government has promised to end the effort.

Parsi medical leaders were cautious in their comments about the vulture program. "As a hospital," said Dr. SK Dhingra, superintendent of BD Petit Parsee General Hospital, "we cannot tell our patients, 'You can do this, or you can do that.'"

Khurshed Dastoor, one of five Parsi high priests, said that he was not sure members would adhere to a diclofenac ban.

"For 10 years, I have been trying to educate the community to turn off their cellphones before they go inside our most sacred fire temples, and I have failed," he said. "And now we think the community will give up diclofenac in a couple of months?"

Other Parsi leaders, however, said they were pushing ahead because of the importance of restoring the tradition.

"We must hope for the best," Mr. Mehta said.

22.33 | 0 komentar | Read More