Watching Out for Whales: (Left to right) Melissa Bolaños, 23, Isabela Tioli, 5, Catalina Antillón, 39, Giunluca Tioli, 3, and Mónica Antillón, 22, came out to participate in a “blue march” yesterday to oppose Japan's plans to resume commercial whaling. Environment and Energy Minister Roberto Dobles will join representatives from 71 other countries in the U.S. state of Alaska this week for a meeting of the International Whaling Commission; he plans to vote against Japan's wishes to lift a moratorium on whale hunting.

Housing Minister Fernando Zumbado plans to spend the night with a family in a San José shantytown in an effort to urge legislators to prioritize proposed laws to fight poverty, according to a statement from the Housing Ministry.

U.S. Embassy and Consulate Closed
In observance of U.S. Memorial Day, the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in San José will be closed and will reopen with their normal hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., tomorrow. 

U.S. Memorial Day Service
Sponsored by American Legion Post 16, noon, cemetery, San Antonio, Escazú.

Mundo Loco Concert
Parque en el Espacio, rock, 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro. Info: 253-8933.

Choose your toothpaste carefully – that's the latest from the Ministry of Public Health, which recently discovered three stores in San José selling tubes contaminated with a toxic substance.

On Friday, the ministry declared a national alert, urging citizens to denounce stores that continue to sell the contaminated toothpaste under the brand names Genial and Mr. Cool, both of which are made in China, according to the daily La Nación.

The toxic substance -- called dietilene glycol -- is also used as brake fluid for automobiles and has been blamed for a rash of deaths in Panama, where it was discovered mixed with medicines provided by that country's social security system.

According to La Nación, 300 units of the poison paste were sold in San José and the northwestern Guanacaste city of Liberia.

The National Center for Toxic Substances has not received any reports of affected people in Costa Rica, but Health Minister María Luisa Avila told the daily that people should beware of purchasing toothpastes with obscure brand names until the issue is fully resolved.

The ministry is in the process of closing commercial establishments that continue to sell these brands and is studying the possibility of filing complaints before the Prosecutor's Office against those who distributed the product in Costa Rica, the daily reported.

The substance in question, which has also been used as an industrial cleaning solvent, was responsible for poisoning 107 people in the United States in 1937, 85 people in Haiti in 1996 and, most recently, more than 100 people in Panama.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), consuming even small quantities is often fatal and can lead to a breakdown of the central nervous system.

To report stores selling the toothpaste brands in question, citizens can call the Health Ministry at 221-6058, 222-1415 or 222-4800.

-Tico Times

By Mike Faulk
editorial@ticotimes.net

Ancient skeletons, pre-Columbian artifacts and 100-year-old murals weren't the only things on hand Friday for inauguration of the National Museum's new administrative headquarters in the western San José suburb of Pavas.

President Oscar Arias made an appearance and cut the ribbon that officially inaugurated the facility. Culture Minister María Elena Carballo, Banco Nacional General Manager Juan Carlos Corrales and Manuel Araya, president of the National Museum board of directors, were also on hand.

“The opening of the museum's new headquarters is a sign that we will not lose the battle to conserve our history,” Arias said in a speech before the ribbon cutting.

The building, which was acquired by the government from Banco Nacional in 1998, cost ¢389 million (about $750,000) to renovate. The 17,000-square-meter facility will house administrative offices and facilitate research projects coordinated by the museum.

Housing Minister Fernando Zumbado plans to spend the night with a family in a San José shantytown in an effort to urge legislators to prioritize proposed laws to fight poverty, according to a statement from the Housing Ministry.

On Tuesday night, the minister plans to arrive to a shantytown in Pavas, west of San José, eat dinner with a family and spend the night at their home. The following morning, he will eat breakfast with them and hand out housing grants to several families before leaving, the statement said.

Zumbado hopes to convince legislators to pass a law that would create a luxury tax for residences worth more than ¢100 million ($190,000). This money would be used to eradicate shantytowns and build houses for low-income families.

Passing a law that would title properties in shantytowns so that those living there can gain formal ownership is another priority for the Housing Ministry, Zumbado said.

The minister also sent a letter to National Liberation Party legislator Ofelia Taitelbaum, who presides over the Legislative Assembly's Social Issues Commission, explaining the importance of creating new resources to fight poverty.

“It is necessary, in complying with the constitutional mandate that demands that the state work toward the well being of all inhabitants... to legislate so that those who have more resources support efforts to help those who lack these resources,” the letter said.