Impact assessments are conducted with the objective of safeguarding human health and the environment. The Environmental Impact Assessment notification of 2006, subsequent amendments and associated guidelines provide the framework to document untoward effects of proposed industrial and developmental projects on the environment, and to manage them. It is also implicitly understood that the notification covers human health concerns arising from the proposed projects. Are health concerns being adequately accounted for when projects are provided clearance? Through the use of a standardised framework, several gaps were found in health-related aspects of the notification and the two evaluated EIA reports analysed here. Further reflection is called for on the purpose of EIAs to prevent human health from becoming a casualty on the path to "development".
