Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, August 18, 2005
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Constitutional Court
Examines New Driving Fines
The vehicular restriction that began on Aug. 6 and limits cars from entering the San José area one day a week based on their license plate number continues to be in effect; however, for the time being, drivers are not required to pay the fine until judges decide whether it is constitutional.
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Cancer Vaccine Experiment
to Move Into Observation
Phase in December
Scientists will finish administering an experimental cervical cancer vaccine to 8,000 women in the northern Pacific province of Guanacaste in December, the director of the project announced yesterday. When finished, the researchers will monitor the women to determine the effectiveness of the drug.
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CAFTA Will Propel Regional
Exchange, Analyst Says
The Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) will promote regional commercial exchange, according to a Guatemalan analyst.
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August 18
Dance Presentations
Metamórfosis, Aug. 18-20, 8 p.m., Aug. 21, 5 p.m., Teatro de la Danza, 100 m east, 100 m north, 50 m north of Santa Teresita Church, Barrio Escalante. Info: 222-2974, 256-4838.
Videoteca del Sur Film Festival
Features the films “ Un Ángel Subterráneo,” by Colombian director Oscar Campos, and “ San Juchitan de las Locas,” by Patricio Henríquez, tonight at Sala Gómez Miralles, Centro de Cine, behind INS, 223-2127, 223-0610.
Gala Opera and Zarzuelas
Performed by Mexican singers, at 7 p.m., at Melico Salazar Theater, Av. 2, Ca. Ctrl. Info: 233-4604, 283-2333.
Edited By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net
Constitutional Court
Examines New Driving Fines
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
The vehicular restriction that began on Aug. 6 and limits cars from entering the San José area one day a week based on their license plate number continues to be in effect; however, for the time being, drivers are not required to pay the fine until judges decide whether it is constitutional.
The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) agreed Thursday to examine the constitutionality of the new rule, decreed by President Abel Pacheco as a gas-saving measure (TT, July 29).
Libertarian Party legislators requested that the court study the decree, alleging that it limits the freedom of movement protected under the Constitution. Federico Malavassi told The Tico Times that only a law, not a decree, can limit that right.
Police will continue to ticket drivers who violate the restrictions, but will not collect the ¢5,000 ($10.38) fines until the court issues a ruling, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT). If the court upholds the decree, ticket drivers will then have to pay their fines.
Sala IV President Luis Fernando Solano told The Tico Times that the court will be “very quick” in looking at the rules and making a decision.
Cancer Vaccine Experiment to Move
Into Observation Phase in December
Scientists will finish administering an experimental cervical cancer vaccine to 8,000 women in the northern Pacific province of Guanacaste in December, the director of the project announced yesterday. When finished, the researchers will monitor the women to determine the effectiveness of the drug.
The GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical company developed the vaccine against common types of Human Papillomavirus, one of the primary factors in the onset of cervical cancer, and began testing it on Costa Rican volunteers last year (TT, July 30, 2004).
Since the vaccinations began, Rolando Herrero, head of the project's research team, has fielded criticism from political groups and concerns that the vaccine might produce unforeseen side effects (TT, Dec. 17, 2004). He said there is no record of any woman having suffered complications from a vaccine other than the expected temporary side effects that some experience – headache, fever and body pain.
The study has revealed that 12.7% of women in the project have one of the kinds of Papillomaviruses that are associated with the onset of cancer, and 17.5% have other kinds of the virus that represent lower cancer risk.
The project is sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and carried out in conjunction with the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and the Public Health Ministry.
The study began in 1993 with tests and registries of virus carriers and virus-free women from a group of more than 8,500 women who were over age 18 and sexually active. The virus is spread sexually, but men do not generally experience any symptoms.
-ACAN-EFE
CAFTA Will Propel Regional
Exchange, Analyst Says
GUATEMALA (ACAN-EFE) – The Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) will promote regional commercial exchange, according to a Guatemalan analyst.
Maynor Alarcón, from the Guatemalan Ministry of Economics, told journalists CAFTA will strengthen commercial exchange among Central American countries, as well as the Dominican Republic, which signed on to the agreement in August 2004.
Last year commercial exchange among countries in the area reached $3.4 billion and “everything appears to indicate growth will continue this year,” he said.
The specialist in integration explained that 39.5% of the total exports from the five Central American countries have the United States as their destination, while 30% are destined for the Central American Common Market (MCCA).
The agreement was negotiated during 2003 and involves the governments of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. So far, the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have ratified the treaty.
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