A Down To Earth annual 5State of India’s Environment 20174

EDITORS: Sunita Narain, Vibha Varshney, Richard Mahapatra, S S Jeevan, Snigdha Das, Aditya Misra, Subhojit Goswami, Rajit Sengupta, Aakriti Shrivastava DATA: Kiran Pandey, Rajit SenguptaDESIGN: Ajit Bajaj, Abhishek Vaishnav, Ritika Bohra, Chaitanya Chandan ILLUSTRATIONS: Tarique AzizMAPS AND INFOGRAPHICS: Raj Kumar SinghCOVER DESIGN: Ajit Bajaj COVER ILLUSTRATION: Ritika Bohra

PHOTOGRAPHS: Vikas Chaudhary, ThinkstockPRODUCTION: Rakesh Shrivastava, Gundhar DasACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Ayush Shukla© 2017 Centre for Science and EnvironmentMaterial from this publication can be used, but with acknowledgement DTE/CSE do not endorse the content of advertisements in this book. Some information has been taken from articles published in Down To Earth

ISBN: 978-81- 86906-06- 4 | Price: R350 (US $30)Published by : Centre for Science and Environment, 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi-110 062 Phones: 91-11-4061 6000, Fax: 91-11-26085879 E-mail: cse@cseindia.org Website: www.cseindia.org

Down To Earthw w w . d o w n t o e a r t h . o r g . i n

C O N T E N T S06FOREWORD BY

SUNITA NARAIN

154ABOUT THE AUTHORS

09OBESITY | The triggers—diet and physical inactivity • Chemicals that make you obese • Need for change in agri and nutrition policies

33MENTAL HEALTH | Social and environmental factors • Who are the most vulnerable • Diet and dementia • New policies need enforcement

61CANCER | Environmental links • Geography of spread • Mobile phones and rare cancers • Pushing for early detection

79HEART DISEASES | Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of deaths • Men and the youth are at a higher risk • The culprits: sugar, salt or fat? • Better planning is the key

28INSIGHT

INSIGHT

INSIGHT

Antibiotics: The increasing risk of non-communicable diseases from antibiotics

135FOOD ALLERGY | Growing incidences among the young, yet there is little data • Which foods are Indians most allergic to • Inadequate understanding of Indian allergies

INSIGHT

150Health apps: There is a boom, but how accurate are mobile applications?

97RESPIRATORY DISEASES | The air pollution bomb is ticking • The Supreme Court continues its yeoman service • What to do on polluted days • Action, not denial, can solve the problem

INSIGHT

114NCD healthcare: Medicines to treat non-communicable diseases are expensive and the pharma industry is not willing to make them accessible to the poor

52Wellness industry: Declining faith in allopathic medicines for chronic diseases has resulted in a boom for alternative treatments

56Dearth of data: It is impossible to formulate good policies if we do not collect good data

119HORMONAL DISORDERS | What causes hormone imbalance in our body system • High incidences, but low investment in treatment • Iodine: from access to excess • How to gain control over endocrine diseases

• analysis • opinion • lifehacks • breakthrough research