NEW DELHI ESTH OFFICE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 004687 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS STATE FOR STAS DOE FOR INTERNATIONAL HHS FOR OGHA STEIGER, HICKEY AND VALDEZ NIH FOR GLASS AND MAMPILLY FDA FOR LUMPKIN AND WELSCH CDC FOR BLOUNT AND FARRELL INTERIOR FOR FWS RILEY STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV TSPL TBIO ECON SOCI KSCA IN SUBJECT: NEW DELHI ESTH OFFICE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 15 - 19, 2007 NEW DELHI 00004687 001.2 OF 002 -------------- ENVIRONMENT -------------- ¶1. The Government of India successfully hosted the second Ministerial Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) in New Delhi on October 15. Canada was officially recognized as the seventh member of the Partnership, alongside existing members Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and the United States. Partners released a Communiqu showcasing flagship projects, the development of a virtual Energy Technology Cooperation Center, and highlighting progress made since the last Ministerial meeting in January 2006. Reporting cable to follow. ¶2. SciFSN, along with officials from Embassy Public Affairs, visited Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan in preparation for the Embassy New Delhi funded wildlife crime workshop November 4 - 6, 2007. The workshop will include a policy day, followed by two days of field-level training for enforcement officials from the police and forest department of Rajasthan. The workshop will include eminent speakers in the field of wildlife law enforcement and illegal trade in wildlife. The training with enforcement agencies will include mock seizures and a trial before a local public prosecutor. -------------- SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY -------------- ¶3. The GOI inaugurated a new tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean on October 15. The system is administered by the Ministry of Earth Sciences via the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) in Hyderabad. According to an INCOIS release, the warning system is comprised of a real-time network of seismic stations, bottom pressure recorders (BPRs),and 30 tide gauges to detect tsunamigenic earthquakes and monitor tsunamis. The full system calls for a total of 12 BPRs; six of which have been installed, including two in the Arabian Sea and four in the Bay of Bengal. The system is designed to issue warnings within 30 minutes of an earthquake, and it passed its first real world test on September 12 when it issued a red alert 25 minutes after an 8.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of southern Sumatra. -------------- HEALTH -------------- ¶4. The GOI has revised the Packaging and Labeling Rule for the pictorial package warning portion of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act. The GOI has decided to replace the skull and cross bones warning sign on tobacco product packs with depictions of painful death and cancerous growth. The revised pictorial warning for smoking says "SMOKING KILLS" and coveys the messages "Smoking causes cancer" and "Your smoking kills babies." The revised health warning for other tobacco products says "TOBACCO KILLS" and coveys the messages "Tobacco causes painful death" and "Tobacco causes mouth cancer." All tobacco product packs manufactured after December 1, 2007, will have to bear the revised pictorial health warnings. ¶5. A mysterious disease has caused seven deaths in Moreh, Manipur. Patients suffering from the disease have complained of high fever, stomach pain, and vomiting. Health department officials said some of the victims had convulsions and seizures before they died. Though the predominant symptoms of the disease appear to be gastrointestinal, the occurrence of convulsions and seizures preceding the deaths in a few patients might be indicative of some more unusual disease such as Nipah virus infection, which has been NEW DELHI 00004687 002.2 OF 002 reported elsewhere in northeast India in recent times. MULFORD