Monthly Archives: April 2010

Spirit of inquiry

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Reading an editorial by eminent Indian scientist Raghunath Anant Mashelkar in Science today, I wondered why asking questions of senior scientists in this country is seen as a mark of irreverence. In the recent past, I have come across some highly regarded scientists who thought it was inappropriate to question their findings. Contrary to the very spirit of science, they have chosen not to answer my queries or simply replied in monosyllables that amount to not answering. I know of colleagues who have had similar innocent questions bounced off such firewalls.

When science can not answer uncomfortable questions, it ceases to be science. Mashelkar talks of adventurism in Indian science, of the Kite Flying Fund that saw not many fundable ideas, of bringing back the spirit of inquiry that made Ramans, Boses and Sahas and of not loosing sleep over such irreverence.

I have seen hundred times more ideas merrily floating in labs which don’t care too much about such centralised flow charts for free thought. Many of them are brutally shot down for their sheer craziness but those that survive are brilliant pieces of start-ups. That, I guess, is far democratic and profitable over labs that need written approval even to ideate! A scientist friend I was talking to the other day made a particularly bold statement that made me partly happy and partly concerned over his youthful optimism . “Bureaucracy is not something I am bothered about, I can handle that. The sole aim of my lab is to get a Nobel for India soon. That’s what keeps me going.” Good luck!

This week, while talking to another young and brilliant energy researcher spearheading social outreach programmes from one of India’s many IITs, I was convinced all’s not doomed for the free spirit of science in this country. It was heartening to hear about the many young researchers under him choosing careers in remote villages to produce alternative energy over cushy MNC jobs. He was proud of these success stories that came out of simple and humane ideas that fought not just the bureaucratic, social and economic system but the political as well. Kudos!

The spirit is alive. In pockets.

Polluting radiation

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This week, questions were raised on India’s national regulations on radioactive waste disposal after a scrap dealer and six of his employees in the national capital were hospitalised with severe Cobalt-60 poisoning. The Mayapuri area of west Delhi became a ticking time bomb of sorts with new cases of radioactive poisoning being reported every day. All 800 shops in the scrap market were scanned and 10 sources of radioactive Cobalt-60 were found.

The sad part is India does not yet have a proper radiation monitoring mechanism in place. The law does have a cursory provision in the Atomic Energy Act of 1962 but it generally concerns only the mega nuclear projects. This leaves everyone else at potential risk. The Union government’s Department of Atomic Energy (DoAE) and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) monitor radioactive materials. The procurement and disposal of Cobalt 60 and radioactive sources are regulated by Mumbai-based AERB, which is also responsible for implementing the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules, 2004.

The Mayapuri incident has set the Delhi state government thinking though. Ahead of the weekend, it was already talking of amending its waste disposal law by including disposal of radioactive materials in the Bio-Medical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1998. The idea is to include radioactive materials used in hospitals in the rule so that monitoring becomes easier. The municipal body would also install radiation detection machines at the border check posts to monitor all incoming material.

The incident has reinforced the need for national regulations as well as a national regulatory body to look into radiation pollution outside of nuclear plants. Also the need for fixing accountability of the state governments to monitor such hazardous wastes dumped out of all possible sources — hospitals, scrap markets, recycling units and state entry points.

Transgenic cock-a-doodle

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First we had the the transgenic mice made using a technique that eliminates the need for hundreds of mice eggs or sacrificing the rodents post-experiment. In short, a deathless technique. Scientists at the National Institute of Immunology at New Delhi made the transgenic animals inserting genes in the testicular germ cells (spermatogonia) of mice through a process called in vivo electroporation or passing mild current for a fraction of a second. The technique would help every biologist generate his own transgenic animals at low cost without the help of specialised labs.

After that we now have the first ‘made in India’ transgenic chicken developed using spermatozoa from male chicken to transfer a green fluorescent protein gene from jellyfish. The protein worked as a marker for the scientists to see if it showed up in the transgenic animals. And it did, with an efficiency of 6%.

The technology is not new (it is already in use in the US, Canada, UK and China). However, developing it in a state poultry body in Hyderabad, Indian scientists have managed to standardise transgenic chicken development at home. That is something to cheer. Also, according to the scientists, transgenic chicken can become a production house for biologically important proteins and peptides for use in medicine. This again is heartening news.

Heart bomb ticking

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A new survey — the largest ever that has tried to know what kills Indians most — has pushed communicable diseases down in the list of biggest killers. It has been reported that heart ailments are actually accountable for maximum mortality in rural and urban India put together. Cardiac diseases have emerged as the number one killer.

The findings are part of the Million Death Study that is following the lives and deaths of 1.1 million households throughout India until 2014. The idea is to have reliable quantification of the causes of death in India, currently not recorded properly.

It is indeed surprising that cardiovascular diseases (accounting for about 19 per cent of all deaths) have emerged as the biggest cause of death in the preliminary findings of the study. Though the genetic pre-disposition of Asian populations to cardiac ailments is no news, this study certainly shows a shift in trend from earlier mortality figures where lifestyle diseases took the backseat and communicable diseases accounted for bigger tolls.

Looks like the heart and its ailments will have to be taken more seriously by public health policy makers.