The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, October 30, 2002

SWEET PLAN! New proposal to mix cane alcohol with petroleum could make cuttin' cane a gas.
TT/Photo

October 30

Registration Process Opened for Dramatic Art BA
The School of Dramatic Art announces registration period is open through Nov. 1, Interviews, Nov. 4-29, people interested in studying theater can call 207-4095 or visit the School at the University of Costa Rica Campus in San Pedro.

Cosas de Nuestro Tiempo
Abel Antezana Palacios, also known as Abel Emilio, is showing his paintings made with mixed techniques and oils at San José Palacio Hotel. The opening is at 7 p.m. Info: 220-2034.

III Independance Concert Cycle
Don’t miss tonight's perfomance with guitar, violin, piano, flute, and narrator. Participant musicians are Keishi and Akiko Sumi (Japan), Castillo y Ortiz (C.R.), Duo Mangore (C.R.), Ortiz and Padrón (C.R.-Cuba), E. Mora and F. Piedra (C.R.), G. Rodríguez and E. Porras (C.R.) and Dúo Eróstrato (C.R.). At 8 p.m., at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, C.R.-North American Cultural Center, Barrio Dent, Los Yoses. Info: 260-0217, www.guitarrayarte.com

Return To Top Of Page

Sugar Cane Alcohol Considered for Cleaner Gasoline
By Fabian Borges
Tico Times Staff

A special commission of government representatives and members of the League of National Sugar Cane Growers was named yesterday to study the possibility of replacing a dangerous ether compound found in gasoline with a safer alcohol produced from sugar cane, announced Agricultural Minister Rodolfo Coto.

Most gasoline is currently made with methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a chemical compound that has been proven to cause groundwater pollution.

If the commission approves the proposal, a trial phase would begin during which the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (RECOPE) would use alcohol instead of MTBE in 10 percent of the country's gasoline supply.

"If everything goes according to plan, the government could issue a complete ban of MTBE within the next two years," Coto explained. "Eliminating MTBE would require 70,000 hectares of new sugar cane to be planted, and several new medium-sized alcohol factories to be built in various parts of the country."

Recent scientific studies reveal that MTBE leaches into the ground and contaminates water supplies.

Lab reports show that just a small amount of the substance leaves a bad taste in large supplies of drinking water, and the dangerous side effects have prompted several U.S. states, including California and New Hampshire, to stop using MTBE altogether.

Using sugar cane in gasoline could open up many possibilities for the country's struggling sugar cane growers, which in recent weeks have been rocked by news that Ingenio Atirro, one of the country's largest sugar cane factories, is teetering on bankruptcy.

Nearly 20,000 small sugar cane producers in the Caribbean slope community of Turrialba area currently dependent on Ingenio Atirro to buy their crops.

Return To Top Of Page

Red Cross AIDS Awareness Campaign Ends

Red Cross leaders are calling the three-month-long HIV/AIDS awareness campaign with young mothers from the Northern Zone both successful and worrisome.

Hannia Pérez, Red Cross administrator in Santa Rose de Poscosol, said the campaign, which ended this week, helped educate some 250 mothers between 14- 20 years old, but noted that most women still have no concept of birth control and means to protect themselves from sexually-transmitted diseases.

"Ignorance is facilitating the spread of AIDS," Pérez said. "Our mission is to address women's doubts and misapprehensions about the issue, to ensure the number of infected patients doesn't continue to grow."

The Red Cross will continue with its AIDS awareness campaigns -- including educating people about forms of discrimination suffered by AIDS patients -- next week in the nearby Northern Zone area of San Carlos.

The organization's goal is to educate 500 teen mothers about the illness by the end of the year.

Return To Top Of Page

C.R.'s Recommendations to be
Presented to World Commission

Concluding yesterday's second day of the "National Dialogue on the Social Aspects of Globalization," Enrique Brú, Costa Rica's World Labor Organization (WLO) director, announced he would bring the country's concerns and recommendations before the World Commission on the Social Aspects of Globalization.

Brú, who is compiling all the concerns addressed during the national dialogue into a comprehensive report, said Costa Rica's voice will be heard by the rest of the world.

The WLO chief said Costa Rica's recommendations would help to ensure the process of globalization is more integrated and just.

More than 150 leaders of government, labor groups and rights organizations participated in this week's national dialogue. They concluded that globalization must do more to include social, cultural and political aspects, not just economic integration.

President Abel Pacheco, the event's keynote speaker, stressed that globalization initiatives must also include provisions to protect the environment and workers' rights (TT Daily Page, Monday Oct. 29).

Return To Top Of Page