UNICEF on Thursday said 1.3 million of Edo population still practised open defecation, and attributed it to low level awareness on healthy living and sanitation among residents. Mrs Mohsema Ishan, a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Specialist in the world body, made this known in Benin at a sensitization on the implementation of WASH project for stakeholders. She said that children needed water, sanitation and hygiene to survive, adding that much needed to be done in Edo to improve access to potable drinking water. Ishan said that six out of 10 households either had their drinking water from contaminated sources…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
By Kay Ledbetter A newly developed fertilizer system will provide nutrition to engineered cotton crops worldwide and a deadly dose to weeds that are increasingly herbicide resistant, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research study. The new system applies phosphite to cotton crops engineered to express a certain gene — a gene that makes cotton able to process the phosphite into nutrition while the same compound suppresses weeds that are unable to use it, researchers said. “Our researchers here at Texas A&M AgriLife have addressed an issue that costs producers billions of dollars,” said Dr. Patrick Stover, vice chancellor of…
The Government of Ethiopia is the latest African country to authorize cultivation of biotech crops by granting two landmark approvals for environmental release of Bt cottonand research trials on biotech maize. In a letter signed by the Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change H.E. Gamado Dale to the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (Applicant), the country will start with two Bt cotton hybrids: JKCH1050 and JKCH1947. The release for Bt cotton is based on experts’ analysis of the results from two-season confined field trials conducted under the supervision of the Biosafety Affairs Directorate of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change and Biosafety…
The Regional Centre of Expertise on Education (RCE), for Sustainable Development, says Nigeria loses its forests at the rate of 11.1 per cent annually, making it the highest on earth. Prof. Albert Olayemi, the Focal Person of the Ilorin RCE for Sustainable Development, made the disclosure on Thursday, at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara state. He spoke while signing a document backing the Kwara House of Assembly on its proposed amendments to improve the law governing the operations of chainsaw men and the law that governs the charcoal economy in the state. According to him, an estimated 13 million…
An Abuja-based Oncologist, Dr Uzodinma Kalu, has warned that younger people between age 30 and 50 could get thyroid cancer. Kalu said on Thursday in Abuja that thyroid cancer developed when cells genetically mutate or change. He said that the abnormal cells begin multiplying in your thyroid and, once there were enough of them, they form a tumor. According to him, if it is caught early, thyroid cancer was one of the most treatable forms of cancer. Although there are four types of thyroid cancer which included: papillary, follicular, medullary and anaplastic thyroid cancer. He explained that anaplastic thyroid cancer…
Germans are using far fewer plastic bags than before, reducing the use of plastic by more than one third, a report has shown. In 2017, there were 1.3 billion fewer plastic bags in use than in 2016, a fall of more than one third. The figures come from a report by the Society for Packaging Market Research ton Thursday. The average German used 29 plastic bags over the 12 months of 2017, representing a total of 2.4 billion for the whole country. The report looked specifically at plastic carrier bags, and not the transparent bags used for fruit and vegetables.…
The N493 million erosion control project awarded by the Federal Government in Tambuwal Local Government, Sokoto State, have been completed. The project was flagged-off on June 4, 2017 by Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Prof. Stephen Ocheni, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari. The project involved road improvement at Dogon Daji, erosion control works at Bashire and works on man-made gully erosion at Jabo community. Residents said the speed with which the work was completed was commendable, adding that it would help ease threats of erosion and flooding in the affected communities. Some of the residents, Malam Chika Malami, Abubakar…
Denmark’s Parliament on Monday approved the construction of a 70-kilometre fence on the border with Germany as part of efforts to combat the threat of African swine fever often carried by wild boar. The fever is not dangerous to humans, but is almost always fatal in pigs yet there is no vaccine. “If African swine fever reaches Denmark, we calculate that exports worth 1.7 billion dollars would be immediately halted,’’ Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, Danish minister for environment and food, said in a statement. He was referring to exports of pigs and pork to countries outside the European Union that would be…
The cholera outbreak in Mubi North and Mubi South Local Government Areas of Adamawa has extended to Hong and Maiha local governments. A statement from the Information Officer of Adamawa Ministry of Health, Mohammed Abubakar, said two cases were recorded in each of the Local Government areas but there was no death. Abubakar said as at Sunday, the total number of cases recorded in Mubi North, Mubi South, Maiha and Hong stood at 985, with 16 deaths. The breakdown indicated that Mubi North had 427 cases, with 10 deaths, while Mubi South had 554 cases, with 6 deaths. Hong and…
By Marion Nestle The FDA has concluded its “consultation process” on Golden Rice. This, you may recall, is rice bioengineered to contain genes for beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) consulted with the FDA to make sure that the agency had no objection to this rice being used in human or animal food products. The FDA’s letter to IRRI concluding the consultation includes this statement: Although GR2E [“Golden”} rice is not intended for human or animal food uses in the United States, when present, it would be a producer’s or distributer’s responsibility to ensure that labeling of human and…