Top News Highlights-12 November 2024

Lancet Study on Economic Losses Due to Lead Exposure

• Lead exposure leads to the loss of nearly $6 trillion globally due to deaths caused prematurely by cardiovascular diseases and reduces the intelligence quotient in children.
• Lead exposure negatively impacts human health with an IQ point reduction, increased risk of heart and kidney diseases, and developmental issues.
• Lead is harmful to plants, affecting crop yield and leading to environmental degradation.
• Solutions include banning lead recycling that generates fumes, taxation of lead production and tagging it as toxics waste.

First Clinical Demonstration of RNA Editing in Humans for Genetic Disorder

• Wave Life Sciences proved the principle for the human clinical application of in vivo RNA editing to treat alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, an impairment in the functioning of the liver and lungs.
• RNA editing is a short-term modification of RNA. However, DNA editing is a permanent process with more dangerous side effects than RNA editing.
• RNA editing uses ADAR enzymes to modify genetic sequences, hence a safer method for genetic therapies.
• Challenges associated with RNA editing are the short-term effects that indicate multiple treatments need to be provided in order to have long-term effects.

Supreme Court Upholds Accessibility as a Right for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs)

• The SC of India in the case of Rajive Raturi vs Union of India observed that it was a fundamental right of a human being to have accessibility for disabled persons.
• The Supreme Court emphasized a twofold approach that needed to be adopted: accessibility to presently built infrastructure and designing of future infrastructures.
• The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 would demand strong accessibility standards based on universal design, along with stakeholder consultations.
• The issues are problematic at several inter-stages in the legal and social context of accessing public space and services for PwDs.

FAO’s ‘State of Food and Agriculture 2024’

• The report presents this argument, pointing out that agrifood systems deliver $5.9 trillion worth of hidden costs, whose base factor, according to it, results from poor dieting effects.
• India comes third globally in terms of losing $1.3 trillion linked to diseases caused by unhealthy diets.
• Recommendations for industrial agrifood systems will go as far as embracing the principle of compulsion on labeling nutrient and dietary guidelines. The traditional system, however, should adopt sustainable inputs without damaging the environment.
• India’s agrifood reforms include the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) for sustainable agriculture and the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund.

Concerns Over Declining Fertility Rates in India

• The National Family Health Survey, NFHS-5, notes that India’s Total Fertility Rate is 2.0, below the replacement level of 2.1. Other states that have scored even lower TFRs include Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
• The causes of declining fertility are family planning, economic constraints, and increasing women’s employment outside homes.
• Low fertility results in aging population, labor shortages, and eventually political representation consequences post 2026.
• The hurdles for the government involve population growth reconciliation with socioeconomic implications- more so in southern states with an acutely declining TFR.

Participatory Approaches in AI Governance: IIT-Madras Report

• Participatory AI promotes the involvement of multiple stakeholders in AI design to make systems more just and transparent.
• Some benefits include reduced bias, increased fairness and trustworthiness as well as acceptability of AI applications in communities.
• Challenges include limited non-expert involvement, tokenism, and risks of misuse of shared algorithm data.
• This approach advocates for transparent and inclusive AI governance, with proper consideration of the implications of AI deployment in sectors such as policing.

Key Concepts and Policies

• Lead Poisoning: Health hazards of lead exposure are marked by cognitive and cardiovascular issues, having an economic shock wave globally.
• RNA Editing: Gene-based therapy that temporarily modifies the RNA sequence is a treatment for disorders such as alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
• The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016: The law is intended to make places more accessible and non-discriminatory towards PwDs keeping in line with the UN’s Convention on Disabilities.
• FAO Agrifood System Reforms: Recommendations for sustainable food systems to help decrease the countervailing environmental and health costs.
• Participative AI – AI development with broader stakeholder input for greater fairness, transparency, and less bias.