Eco-Briefs

	BRAZIL
	New Malaria Medication

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 5 (Tierramérica).- Brazil has a new, more efficient medication against malaria, ASMQ, which will be available at cost (2.5 dollars per dose) for Latin American and Asian countries.

ASMQ combines two pharmaceuticals of proven effectiveness against the most serious form of the disease, falciparum. It was tested successfully in 17,000 patients last year in the Amazon region.

"Most of the people were cured," said Hilbert Ferreira, assistant director of Farmanguinhos, laboratory of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which presented the results Apr. 17.

ASMQ is safer, faster and cheaper than other malaria medications, according to the Foundation. The pills can be stored up to three years in a tropical climate and treatment is reduced to three days.

	ARGENTINA
	Recycled Plastic for Food Containers

BUENOS AIRES, May 5 (Tierramérica).- Argentina's National Industrial Technology Institute (INTI) has approved a technique for manufacturing food containers from recycled plastic bottles.

The institute advised the Ministry of Health in adapting an internationally accepted technology that has never been used in Argentina, INTI engineer Alejandro Ariosti told Tierramérica.

Now plastic containers that have been thrown out will be sanitized, melted and sold to be mixed with "virgin" materials to manufacture new containers for food and beverages.

Until now, bottles from soft drinks and cooking oils made with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were rendered and used to make textiles, but its safety for re-use as food containers had not been proved.

	MEXICO
	Environmentalists Repudiate Electricity Project

MEXICO CITY, May 5 (Tierramérica).- Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission, CFE, has divided a fishing community with promises and food in the Cuyutlán lagoon, in the western state of Colima, to calm criticisms of a planned electricity plant, charge ecologists.

"The entire process aimed at authorizing the installation of the plant," which will run on liquefied gas, had irregularities, like aid handouts for the local residents, Alejandro Olivera, of Greenpeace Mexico, told Tierramérica.

Greenpeace and other environmental groups filed a complaint Apr. 18 against the government's February authorization to CFE to build the plant on the shores of the 100-square-kilometer lagoon located close to the Pacific Ocean.

According to environmentalists, the energy plant would hurt Cuyutlán's rich biodiversity, where some 100 fisherfolk make their livelihood.

	HONDURAS
	March for the Forest - Again!

TEGUCIGALPA, May 5 (Tierramérica).- The third "March for Life", organized by the environmental movement led by Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, is part of an effort to bring attention to environmental degradation in Honduras.

Tamayo told Tierramérica that among the objectives is to ensure the application of the new Forestry Law and the independence of the Forestry Conservation Institute, the body responsible for applying that law.

The long march, with the participation of residents and supporters, will leave from the northeastern city of Catacamas on May 14.

The marchers are slated to arrive in Tegucigalpa on May 28 and will present the president's office with petitions related to environmental policies. On May 30, which is Arbor Day in Honduras, they will plant trees in areas around the capital.

*Source: Inter Press Service.