Over the past few weeks we have enjoyed sharing pictures from people on Flickr on our Facebook page as well as natural remedies for day to day things that effect your life around the home here in Costa Rica.

Recently we shared an easy to do make at home Mosquito repellent and one of our readers commented on the picture to let us know of another amazing remedy widely available in Costa Rica.

This one comes in the form of something you ingest and happens to be one of the most popular fruits in Latin America: Papaya seeds.

After doing some light research online and asking locals who use this method, we found that taking Papaya seeds a few times per week in your breakfast smoothie can eliminate the possibility of contracting Dengue fever (obviously there is no way to substantiate this with hard science and facts from credible sources, but worse case scenario you get more fiber for regular bowel movements. We trust the locals, and the leaves of the Papaya tree have been known to help with Dengue fever).

With the meteoric rise of Dengue fever in Costa Rica over the past few months, it is important to take these natural remedies into consideration, especially if you have small children around your home.

This is not a hard thing to do, simply take some of the seeds from your Papaya and throw them into a blender with other fruit, blend it up and enjoy.

UPDATE, more great benefits: Papaya seeds also have antibacterial properties and are effective against E.coli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus infections, may protect the kidneys from toxin-induced kidney failure, can eliminate intestinal parasites and help detoxify the liver.

Thank you to our readers for leaving comments on Facebook and for inspiring the publishing of this article for others to enjoy.

More information about Dengue fever:

Dengue fever, also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. In a small proportion of cases the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs.

Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally A. aegypti. The virus has four different types; infection with one type usually gives lifelong immunity to that type, but only short-term immunity to the others. Subsequent infection with a different type increases the risk of severe complications. As there is no commercially available vaccine, prevention is sought by reducing the habitat and the number of mosquitoes and limiting exposure to bites.

Source: NIH.gov

Introduction to The McKee Project Methodology

Over the past 12 years, The McKee Project has developed and taught spay and neuter techniques to 650 plus veterinarians in 8 Latin American countries. The reason McKee believes this teaching is critical is that the majority of veterinary schools in Latin America do not teach how to spay and neuter companion animals, as they do not believe it is a commercially viable practice and more importantly, a humane strategy to control overpopulation. Traditionally veterinarians in Latin America are trained for agricultural animals or for food supply safety. Veterinary care for dogs and cats is not even a consideration.

The McKee spay neuter technique takes minutes, utilizing a spay hook, and makes an incision of about one inch – this is a less invasive procedure, quicker, less traumatic to the animal, and approximately 60% more cost-effective. This quicker and less invasive technique allows countries to provide service to the thousands or millions of animals on the street much more efficiently.

The result of McKee Project’s training has in fact created a cultural shift where veterinarians are shown that spay and neuter of companion animals can be commercially viable by the creation of a new client base of dog and cat owners, as well as creating a new relationship between owners and their healthier pets.

Besides spay neuter training for vets and their communities, McKee believes that pet “owners” need to be trained to invest in their animals as well. There is a cost associated with spay and neuter of companion animals, based on each veterinarians cost and owner’s ability to pay. Initially assessed by owner resources, the cost is minimal.

When spay neuter is first introduced to a community Mckee finds that 10% of the companion animals from the area take advantage of the low cost service. Over time, neighborhood animals are seen to be healthier and thrive without multiple litters. Slowly but surely more and more owners seek spay neuter.

Statistics show that 70% or more of the companion animals in each area must be sterilized in order to have a marked effect/control breeding of unwanted and uncared for dogs and cats.

Thus Mckee has a big job if we are to make a difference. Through your donations (go to McKeeProject.org and click on the donate menu item) we can ensure this slow and culturally altering educational and training process happens in volume across Latin America, that it impacts the suffering of animals that are abandoned and abused from lack of housing, food, water, and companionship of humans.

If you want to get involved with The McKee Project please send us an email at info@mckeeproject.org, we have veterinarian training and community spay neuter programs happening regularly in Costa Rica and around Latin America. Together we can make a difference, one day at a time.

Michael Lovatt, a 61-year-old old Sunshine Coast resident, was bitten by a venomous snake earlier this week while walking along a beach at night in the city of Quepos.

Speaking from his hospital bed at Vancouver General this morning, Lovatt said he never even saw the snake.

“All of a sudden there’s this intense pain on my foot. By the time I [shone] my flashlight down on [my foot], I just see three red dots and it’s sore… It went downhill real quick right after,” he said.

Lovatt, who lives in Robert’s Creek, went to a medical clinic in Costa Rica, but a language barrier prevented him from getting any more than minimal help, so he got on a flight to Vancouver.

To read the rest of the story please go to CBC.ca.

He was renting a small house in Montezuma facing the ocean when rainy season hit. Stuck inside with time on his hands, he found tools that were left behind by a Mexican artist and decided to try making things out of coconut, practicing “without any particular orientation.” Later a friend gave him advice on how to not break his tools so often and showed him some techniques, but Carlos was developing his own style.

For Carlos, experimenting with coconuts has become both his hobby and his work. “I think that since I discovered it, I am happy,” he said.

He has been crafting things out of coconut for 10 years now, and three years ago started a business in Samara called Cocotales, the name for coconut plantations in Colombia. Aside from jewelry, bowls and cord made from coconut, he and his companions have been experimenting lately with even more ways to use coconuts, from fiber to oil. They even tried making paper, but it turned out more like cardboard, so Carlos considers it “a failure.”

Alonso Lopez Perez, who began working with Carlos about six months ago, has also been charmed by the nut. “It’s cool, like alchemy,” he said. “We are producing something from nothing, something that is difficult to do and has its process.”

Alonso explained that it’s better to work with coconuts in winter when they are soft like a sponge. In the summer, they soak the coconuts in a barrel of water to soften them.

When the coconut is moist, Carlos said they hit it hard with a hammer to release the fibers. They extract three types of fibers— a long thread that is good for things like bracelets, a short one that they use to make a rough fabric for covering lamps, and a cotton-like fiber that they can spin like wool to form a strong rope. Carlos is contemplating making a type of spinning wheel to work with the fiber.

Their latest venture is extracting coconut oil. Carlos explained the process: first they peel the coconut and extract it with a drill or a metal device; then they place the coconut meat in water in a plastic bin and let it ferment for a couple of days. The coconut oil separates from the water. They collect the coconut fat and cook it in a frying pan to separate the impurities from the oil and then filter it. After letting it sit for a couple of days the oil becomes more clear and is ready for bottling and use.

The process takes a lot of time and labor, according to Carlos, but they are enjoying learning new ways to use coconut.

Source: Arianna McKinney from Voice of Nosara

The new Costa Rica farm is a boost for Conservation International (CI), one of Starbucks’ closest partners within the non-profit center. CI’s coffee purchasing guidelines, or Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices (C.A.F.E.) has nudged Starbucks to partner and work with coffee growers who implement socially and environmentally responsible practices. As of 2012 Starbucks purchases 93 percent of its total coffee via the C.A.F.E. standards. The new research and development center is on top of the $70 million Starbucks has invested in ethical sourcing programs across the world.

According to a Starbucks press release, the Costa Rica R&D center will serve several purposes: new development of coffee varietals; research to help support resiliency for farmers as climate change has an impact on coffee growers; and how to balance best coffee growing practices while maintaining local biodiversity. Starbucks currently operates five farmer support centers in Africa, China and Latin America and the new Costa Rica farm will help scale those sites’ current work. Starbucks claims it will invest $1 billion in these programs by 2015 to make this 100 percent ethically sourcing promise a reality.

Starbucks always attracts its fair share of criticism here in the U.S and abroad, but the world’s largest coffee company has taken several steps recently to demonstrate an increased commitment to sustainability. Starbucks will only source sustainable palm oil by 2015, and has rolled out a $1 cup to reduce the waste its stores generate. And while a glance at garbage bins within a short radius of your local Starbucks may show otherwise, Starbucks has been experimenting with recycling programs to do something about those pesky white coffee cups. Stakeholders are correct in pushing Starbucks to do more, but this current work with CI has been instrumental in transforming the the $13 billion company into a more ethical one.

Source: Leon Kaye on TriplePundit.com

The “Women’s Cancer Initiative: A joint commitment to save lives” is an alliance of public and private organizations that will carry out joint efforts in areas including advocacy and communication; capacity building for detection, diagnosis, treatment and care in health services; improved access to services and treatment; wider vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV); and expanded research.

More than 400,000 new cases of cervical and breast cancer (80,710 and 320,000, respectively) are diagnosed in the Americas and some 120,000 women die from these cancers (36,100 and 82,550, respectively) each year. By 2030, the annual number of new cases in Latin America and the Caribbean is projected to increase 70% (from 114,900 to 199,300 cases of breast cancer, and 68,220 to 111,000 cases of cervical cancer).

“For a public health problem of this magnitude, and given that we have the know-how and technology to save lives, we urgently need all sectors of society to work together to help ensure equitable access to cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and palliative care,” said PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne.

Women in Latin America and the Caribbean “are dying disproportionately from these types of cancer, the two that affect them most,” warned Silvana Luciani, PAHO/WHO advisor on cancer prevention and control. While North America records nearly twice as many new breast cancer cases each year as Latin America and the Caribbean (205,500 versus 114,900), the number of deaths in the two subregions are much closer (45,600 in North America and 36,950 in Latin America and the Caribbean). “This reflects inequity in access to health services and treatment,” Luciani explained.

Existing strategies that target these cancers include innovative approaches that try to empower women to seek early diagnosis and that utilize new cervical cancer screening tests that are being used widely in developed countries but less so in developing ones. “We want to reduce the time gap between introduction of these new technologies in our region,” said Luciani.

Also important is expanded access to HPV vaccines, which evidence suggests are safe and effective in preventing cervical cancer and pre-cancerous lesions. Currently, HPV vaccine is being made available to all adolescent girls in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Panama and Peru. Universal use of the vaccine could prevent as much as 70% of cervical cancer cases.

The Women’s Cancer Initiative is being organized by the Pan American Forum of Action on the Non-communicable Diseases (PAFNCDs), which brings together representatives of governments, academia, civil society, and the private sector to fight the growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases in the Americas. Members include ministries of health from throughout the Americas as well as the National Cancer Institutes Network (RINC/UNASUR), the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC), the American Cancer Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Basic Health International, the Canadian Partnership against Cancer, Grounds for Health, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the CIMAB Foundation, and the Global Task Force for Cancer Control in Developing Countries of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative.

Other participants include the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, FEMAMA, the Albert & Mary Lasker Foundation, LIVESTRONG Foundation, the International Union for Cancer Control, NIH Foundation, JHPIEGO, the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, PATH, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Becton Dickinson & Co., Merck, Pfizer, Policy Wisdom, Qiagen, Roche, phRMA, Spectrum, and GSK.

PAHO, founded in 1902, is the oldest international public health organization in the world. It works with its member countries to improve the health and the quality of life of the people of the Americas. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of WHO.

Facts and figures

Breast cancer

-In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), breast cancer ranks first among women’s cancers in terms of both cases and deaths.
-In the Americas, more than 320,000 women were diagnosed and more than 82,000 died from breast cancer in 2008.
-By 2030, the number of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer is projected to increase 70% in LAC if current trends continue.
-In LAC, a higher proportion (58%) of breast cancer deaths are in women under age 65 as compared with North America (42%).
-Nearly half of breast cancer deaths in the hemisphere occur in LAC.
-Earlier diagnosis and advances in treatment have led to better outcomes and longer survival for women with breast cancer.
-When diagnosis is delayed and severe illness results, palliative care is needed to mitigate the suffering of patients and their families.
-Integrated programs that include education, screening and early detection, treatment and palliative care are critical to reducing the burden of breast cancer.

Cervical cancer

-Cervical cancer is the second-leading cancer in women of all ages in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
-It is highly preventable.
-Over 80,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in the Americas in 2008.
-Nearly 36,000 died from the disease in the Americas in 2008. Most of these deaths (88%) occurred in LAC.
-Cervical cancer mortality rates are seven times higher in LAC than in North America.
-Screening women for cervical pre-cancer, followed by treatment, is a cost-effective intervention to prevent cervical cancer.
-An estimated 70% of cervical cancer cases could be prevented through HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination of adolescent girls.

PAHO action

PAHO is working with its member countries to establish and sustain comprehensive cancer control programs. In addition to its advocacy and communication efforts, PAHO/WHO is promoting evidence-based guidelines for breast cancer care, integrating breast health awareness into chronic illness primary care interventions, providing technical assistance to improve the quality of and access to mammography and radiotherapy services, and generally strengthening capacity for cancer treatment in the region.

Pan American Forum for Action on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs)
http://new.paho.org/panamericanforum

Cancer (PAHO)
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1866&Itemid=3904&lang=en

IARC Globocan (global cancer database)
http://globocan.iarc.fr/

Media Contacts

Leticia Linn, linnl@paho.org, Tel. + 202 974 3440, Mobile +1 202 701 4005,
Donna Eberwine-Villagran, eberwind@paho.org, Tel. +1 202 974 3122, Mobile +1 202 316 5469,
Sebastián Oliel, oliels@paho.org, Phone +1 202 974 3459, Mobile 202 316 5679,
Knowledge Management and Communications, PAHO/WHO www.paho.org

“One Woman” calls for change and celebrates acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who daily make extraordinary contributions to their countries and communities. The lyrics are inspired by stories of women whom UN Women has supported, UN Women is the UN organization charged with advancing women’s empowerment and gender equality worldwide. It began its work in 2011, the first new UN organization in decades. “One Woman” is the first theme song for a UN organization.

Singers and performers from all regions, women and men, donated their time and contributed their talent. They include: Ana Bacalhau (Portugal); Angelique Kidjo (Benin); Anoushka Shankar (India); Bassekou Kouyate (Mali); Bebel Gilberto (Brazil); Beth Blatt (US); Brian Finnegan (Ireland); Buika (Spain); Charice (Philippines); Cherine Amr (Egypt); Debi Nova (Costa Rica); Emeline Michel (Haiti); Fahan Hassan (UK); Idan Raichel (Israel); Jane Zhang (China); Jim Diamond (UK); Keith Murrell (UK); Lance Ellington (UK); Marta Gomez (Colombia); Maria Friedman (UK); Meklit Hadero (Ethiopia); Rokia Traoré (Mali); Vanessa Quai (Vanuatu); Ximena Sariñana (Mexico); Yuna (Malaysia).

Initially performed during the launch event for UN Women in the UN General Assembly Hall in 2011, “One Woman” aims to become a rallying cry that inspires listeners about the mission of UN Women and engages them to join in the drive for women’s empowerment and gender equality.

The music of the song is by Graham Lyle (Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and many other hits) and British/Somali singer-songwriter Fahan Hassan. Jerry Boys, who has worked with a wide range of artists including REM, Everything But The Girl and was one of the people behind the Buena Vista Social Club recording, produced the song, together with lyricist and executive producer Beth Blatt and her organization Hope Sings.

Microsoft, as UN Women’s corporate partner for “One Woman” has sponsored the song and music video production.

The song will be available for purchase on the song website and all common channels like iTunes and Amazon for $0.99. All proceeds go directly to UN Women in support of its programmes to empower women on the ground.

According to American Medical News, many forward thinking companies such as Wal-Mart, Boeing Co., Lowe’s, and PepsiCo have already began to include medical tourism in their healthcare plans, while others are headed to Costa Rica to see and hear for themselves about the fast moving medical tourism phenomenon.

This year’s Medical Travel Business Summit, which is being hosted on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast at the Marriot Los Suenos Ocean & Golf Resort by PROMED, the Costa Rican Tourism Board and the World Institute of Surgical Excellence, is focused on being able to connect U.S. healthcare companies such as insurance companies, self-insured companies, third party administrators, managed care organizations and all others who are focused on being able to decrease their healthcare costs in the face of Obamacare, while maintaining a high level of care for their members and employees.

The Medical Travel Summit will bring these U.S. companies together to see, hear and interact with Costa Rica’s top hospitals and doctors on topics that cover how sending their members and employees to Costa Rica for their medical care is the best option to decrease their healthcare costs. Additionally, Costa Rica’s healthcare system, which is ranked ahead of the United States by the World Health Organization for quality of care, aims to educate U.S. companies on how their members and employees will have a higher level of care, while getting to recover in a tropical paradise and save an average of 50-70% off the cost of the exact same procedures performed in the U.S.

Massimo Manzi, Executive Director for PROMED, the Council for the International Promotion of Costa Rican Medicine, says “the Medical Travel Summit creates an ideal environment for U.S. companies to learn about Costa Rica’s high quality medicine directly from our providers of healthcare”. Some of the individuals and companies speaking at this year’s Medical Travel Summit include Costa Rica’s Minister of Health, the past president of Costa Rica, Jose Figueres, and the medical tourism company, “WISE”, the World Institute of Surgical Excellence.

There will also be guided tours of Costa Rica’s top hospitals, breakout sessions to discuss topics of interest such as new procedures to solve vexing health problems, medical travel and the U.S. perspective, opportunities and challenges facing medical tourism for companies, presenting a medical travel option to employees, and many other hot medical tourism topics.

With over 20 countries, 150 self-insured and insurance companies, and an additional 350 healthcare related professionals expected to be in attendance at this year’s Medical Travel Summit in Costa Rica, it is safe to say that there is clear shift in thought towards a global healthcare market and a new paradigm for receiving affordable, high quality, patient centered healthcare outside of the United States.

The World Institute of Surgical Excellence “WISE” is the world’s largest medical tourism company with offices and employees in every major U.S. city and a full operations team to receive and care for patients in their destination countries. WISE educates prospective medical tourism patients, coordinates every aspect of their trip, and personally assists them through every step of the patient process, both domestic and abroad, from the moment of first contact through the last post-operative check-up back home in the United States.

The Council for the International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine PROMED is the private not-for-profit organization that coordinates the efforts carried out to ensure the quality of services provided by the private health industry in Costa Rica and their international promotion, with the intention of consolidating the country as a center for global medicine and a major destination for medical tourism.

For additional information on the 4th Annual Medical Travel Business Summit being hosted in Costa Rica, April 24th-26th, or to register to attend, please, contact:

Anthony King, Vice President of Sales & Marketing with WISE
Direct: 800-601-4160
Email: AKing@WiseMDs.com
Web: www.WiseMDs.com
Facebook: WISEFacebook
Twitter: www.twitter.com/wiseusa

Our guess is that Morgan was a casualty of the Holidays – one of the busiest times of the year for the Refugio. Between November and January AHPPA receives an inordinate amount of emails asking for help from pet owners to get the word out about their lost pet. Either someone abandoned him or maybe he ran away from his home freaked by the bombas (fire-crackers) and/or fireworks.

Most street dogs are pretty savvy with dodging Costa Rica’s crazy traffic. Morgan’s behavior and his overall condition didn’t indicate he had been homeless, or lost, for an extended period of time. Nonetheless, he is with us now and in need of Sponsorship to live out his life cared for in a safe and loving environment.

Morgans New Home

When Morgan first arrived, he was quite traumatized and depressed. However, he quickly responded and brightened up with lots of love and attention from AHPPA volunteers and staff members. For some strange reason he adores a particular dog bed (photo above); He actually stole it from one of the other shelter dogs and refuses to give it up!

Morgan resides now as a new addition to our Sanctuary-Sponsored dog area and would love a home and owner to call his own, however, because of his inability to hold his waste, he is not considered an adoptable candidate. Can you help us with Morgan? Click here to make a donation to cover his expenses and upkeep. And thank you for considering sponsorship of Morgan.

Contact AnimalShelterCostaRica.com if you are able to help!

For this reason, and the same as we did earlier with the cart, the oxherd or with calypso music, we now urge from the Ministry of Culture and Youth to declare corn, and all it represents, as natural and cultural heritage of Costa Rica-Zea mays- as well as its traditions and agricultural practices.

There are many reasons to support this declaration, one of which is the inseparable link between culture and cultivation, that work of man that makes the land produce.

In the majority of indigenous cultures of our territory, such as the Bribrís and the Cabécares, their worldview was based on corn. These peoples were considered to be created by the god Sibú, from seed corn, and its various colors determined membership of the various clans or “races”.

The cultivation of corn in our country is ancient. They have found seeds and charred cobs in Tronadora Vieja, now Arenal Lagoon, from 2,000 BC, as well as ceramics that record agricultural practices to that date. There is also historical evidence demonstrating the presence of corn in Costa Rica – from corn pollen found in lake sediments, as in the Laguna Martinez, Guanacaste, which scientists consider date back to 3000 BC.

Further South American corn origins are also found in the Central Caribbean- archaeological site Severo Ledesma, near Guácimo-which suggests that our country functioned as a meeting place between different peoples of the continent that had in common the cultivation of different varieties of this plant. These varieties were a particular feature of each village that differed from each other, which could be associated with the emergence of chiefdoms, but this was in a period closer to possibly 300 BC. And also, changes in customs have been discovered, workers who left farming for service positions in coordination and control jobs.

In all historical periods, corn was essential in the popular diet, like atoles, tortillas, mixed with meats and even fermented drinks like chicha.

The symbolic metates, true works of pre-Hispanic art, were created to grind corn, direct inheritance that our grandmothers received and used after the Spanish conquest, a custom that continues to this day.

The cultivation and consumption of corn throughout the country is evident, with the Mesoamerican section of the country that has the most varieties. And it is in this region where we can appreciate a typical and abundant cuisine based on this grain, between drinks and meals, like pozole, tamales, Pisque, tortillas, biscuits, rosquillas, tanelas, marquesotes, topotoste, atol, pinolillo, chicheme and chorreadas .

We must concentrate on a model of development that has the foundation of our best traditions, including, as a central reference point, the corn. We build the future knowing and defending our past.

We proudly assume our rich heritage of the children of the corn, “men of corn” as named by Guatemalan laureate novelist Miguel Angel Asturias.

Source: Voice of Nosara by Manuel Lopez Obregon, Minister of Culture and Youth

Two diverse opportunities to engage with them while enjoying one of our annual neighborhood gatherings!

February 11 for a morning of physical and mental stretching with an active demonstration of Tai Chi, followed by coffee and terrific munchies. If you live in the Heredia/Cariari areas (extending from Heredia to Alajuela, Belen, Cariari, Grecia, Atenas), this active morning will be held at the Taoist Tai Chi Center in the heart of Heredia. 2268-3748 for directions and more information.

February 16 a wine and cheese afternoon will be hosted in the Ciudad Colon area for members, friends, and neighbors in Santa Ana/Escazú zones. Another opportunity to find out more about the supportive work accomplished by The Women’s Club and to enjoy a relaxing afternoon meeting interesting and active women in these neighborhoods. 8369-7992, gracewccr@gmail.com for directions and more information.

We invite you to attend either of these Neighborhood Gatherings….and to visit our website www.wccr.org

The technique involves creating floating rafts on which vegetables, grains and flowers can be grown. Terrestrial crops such as grains and vegetables have their roots directly in the water or can be potted, with water being drawn up into their soil from the lake by capillary wicks, Ricardo Radulovich, a professor at the University of Costa Rica’s Department of Agricultural Engineering, explains. Aquatic crops are grown directly on the water.

The idea was developed by Radulovich and colleagues over several years. Last November, they received a CAD$100,000 (around US$100,000) grant from Grand Challenges Canada, a global health innovation agency funded by the Canadian government, to further their work.

Radulovich and his colleagues are currently carrying out prototype projects on Lake Arenal in Costa Rica and Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua.

“Seventy per cent of the world’s available water is used for irrigation,” Radulovich tells SciDev.Net. He says there are fears that water supplies will run out because of rising demand. In addition, climate change is increasing uncertainty over rainy seasons and higher temperatures mean that crops need more water, he says.

Using lake water can avoid the wastage that results from traditional irrigation, Radulovich says.

Sustainable use of all the world’s freshwater resources could double the current capacity of food production without requiring more irrigation water, he says.

Radulovich says the technique could be effective in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Bangladesh, Bolivia, the Philippines and other nations with large lakes, whether they are natural or artificial ones that form behind hydroelectric dams.

Researchers in Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda have shown interest in developing aquatic agriculture projects in their countries, Radulovich says.

Lakes could also be used for animal aquaculture, especially to farm herbivorous fish and shrimps, further increasing their role in food production, he adds.

Mario Zúñiga Chaves from the School of Agricultural Engineering at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC), says that aquatic farming could solve many families’ economic problems in regions with a dry tropical climate.

One option, he says, is to build reservoirs to capture water in the rainy season and then use them to farm fish. “Similarly, these reservoirs can be used in the dry season to supply the water needs of crops and animals,” Zúñiga says.

Source: SciDev.net

The information was provided by Dr. Jorge Fonseca Renauld, Director of the medical center and the engineer Danilo Monge, Director of Special Projects of the CCSS, who said that fortunately the work has not affected the provision of services to the population of the cantons of Nicoya, Santa Cruz, Hojancha and Nandayure, which receive care at that medical center.

According to Fonseca, as a result of the reinforcement work, they had to make adjustments and relocate certain hospital services.

The doctor pointed out that both the head of outpatient care and the pharmacy storage are operating in temporary facilities that were installed in front of the medical center.

Danilo Monge said that in this process of reconstruction and reinforcement, the slab and the rafters were repaired, the floors were demolished because they had structural faults and the electromechanical part is intervening.

The official said that the area affected by the quake will provide the same function as before the earthquake, however, the structure will be lighter in order to work properly in case another earthquake occurs.

Source: Voice of Nosara by Oliver Perez Picado

The restaurant is called Guatemala Linda. It serves Guatemalan food but it also serves “pinto.” It’s empty, with two televisions turned on, and the women that are serving us spend more time in the kitchen than paying attention to us. But we don’t care. After months away from Costa Rica, the mere possibility of once again tasting fried plantain, scrambled eggs and a tasty pinto with sour cream is all we want. And you have to take into account that we’ve only been outside of Costa Rica for a few months… Miguel and Robert haven’t traveled to their homeland for seven years.

We are in Plainfield, New Jersey, an hour and a half by train from Manhattan, New York. A great majority of Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans live in the state of New Jersey. These are the three countries known as the most dangerous geographic triangle in the American continent. But there is also a small group of Ticos that live here.

Sandra, together with her cousin Miguel and his friend Robert, live and work in Plainfield and form part of the Costa Rican population who work illegally in the USA. (Last names will not be used to protect their identity).

Sandra and Miguel are from Nosara. They decided to leave their town for a city of small buildings with a Latin vibe but only cement around. Their motive for uprooting is the same as mostly all other immigrants that go to the United States: to make more money.

The level of unemployment in the United States isn’t at its best (7.7%) but, according to Sandra, “many (Americans) don’t want to work unless it’s in an office,” opening an important portal to immigrants, especially Latinos, to work in jobs considered “hard,” like cleaning, gardening and construction. For Sandra, “the treatment of immigrants from some people is racist. The Latino has to do the North American’s work, they treat him bad and if he doesn’t have papers they pay him bad.”

Arriving in the United States

Sandra, 40 years old, has a fervent desire to see her 22-year-old daughter graduate in medicine from Universidad Latina (Latin University). She works between 10 to 14 hours a day. Sandra’s story is much like many Costa Rican adolescents that ended up pregnant. With help from her mom, who lives in Nicoya, and from her grandmother, who died a few weeks after this interview, they helped her move ahead. The father of her daughter helps her economically, but according to Sandra “it’s not much.” So she studied cosmetology in San Jose and opened her own salon in Nosara in 1994, the first one in the town. But the salon wasn’t enough to achieve her daughter’s dreams, so she decided to head another direction.

She worked in the state of Texas during 2010, and in 2011 went to Southampton, an affluent high-class town in the state of New York, with the help of a North American couple that visits Nosara regularly.

In 2012 she decided to accept her cousin Miguel’s invitation to make money in Plainfield. There she found work in a salon. As an extra job, she cleaned house for an Argentine man. When I ask Sandra what she does in her spare time, she looks at me mockingly and asks, “What spare time?” When she’s in the United States, it’s to work.

Sandra’s situation is distinct. She only works in the United States during the low tourist season in Nosara, from May until October. She says it’s in there where she enjoys herself. “Here I don’t go out. In Nosara I do. There you know people, you know that if you’re going to drink, there’s always a friend to take you home. Not here.” In Plainfield, she tried to go out a couple of times with Miguel and Robert but she felt uncomfortable in the presence of “ficheras,” women, the majority Latinas, who receive a $10 token from a client to have a drink with them at the bar or at a table in the bar.

Sandra tells me that some of the salon’s clients have invited her to go out and that many of them are married or are military men on leave. Some have even offered to get her legal papers for permanent residency in the United States in exchange for a date, but she responds that it’s better not to. “I am very careful in this,” she assured.

The High Cost of Making Money

Miguel and Robert went to the States together seven years ago, in 2005, and have never returned to Costa Rica. The risk of leaving the United States and not being able to enter again is stronger; they have a lot to lose: a stable job and good pay.

For the past three years, both have worked for a waste collection and classification company. They earn $480 per week, about 240,000 colones, making a total of $1920 per month, five times what a garbage collector and recycler in Costa Rica makes. They have two days off per week, but most of the time they spend those days doing other “little jobs” in restaurants, like washing dishes or cooking.

Yet, earning more money in a foreign country has its cost, especially when you come from a country where daily life is filled with family activities. “You pay the high price of not being with your family every day,” said Sandra.

When Robert decided to try his luck in the north, his son was only one year old. Leaving him was hard, but since he touched American soil, he sends him money every month.

The only one who has a family member nearby is Miguel. Miguel is the second to last of 12 siblings. His mom died at 61 in 1997 waiting for a liver transplant and now Miguel helps his 75-year-old father economically. One of his sisters arrived in New Jersey six years ago and married another Tico. Miguel sees them every two weeks, especially during summer, when they barbecue at a beach or a park.

The social life of the three is limited. They spend it on Facebook or watching television programs.

Being single and without children, Miguel, smooth and gentile, can indulge himself a little more by going out for a few beers and visiting New York City. I ask if he’s ever had trouble with immigration. “You don’t have problems if you don’t look for them,” Miguel responds. “I go around calmly.”

But for the most part, life for Miguel and Robert centers around work. The goal is to spend as little as possible, although this implies giving up one of the sports most enjoyed by Costa Rican men: soccer. They don’t play for fear of breaking a bone or hurting themselves and having to pay high medical bills. A few years ago, Robert had an infected molar and had to pay $850 for treatment. He said he doesn’t risk it now and only watches others play.

Putting Down Roots in a Foreign Country

But for other Ticos, living in the United States isn’t just about making money and returning to Costa Rica. Some build their lives right there in a foreign country to forge a future for them and their family.

Months after that hot August afternoon when we met Sandra, Miguel and Robert, now close to the cold Christmas in the north of the American continent, I meet the incredible Carmen Muñoz, a 64-year-old Nicoyan, married 42 years ago to her husband Luis Rodriguez and mother of her only daughter, Isabel Gonzalez, who was born in Heredia.

Grandmother of three, all born in the United States, Carmen has two jobs, one during the day and one at night. She sleeps little and when she’s awake, doesn’t have a moment’s rest. Her time is limited and precious. She can’t meet me personally, so we start a series of telephone interviews that extend for three months.

In one of them, Carmen quickly answers the phone, “I’m on the run, darling. The day after tomorrow I leave for Costa Rica to spend Christmas with my family.” Carmen sighs and says, “It’s been almost 30 years since we’ve spent it together.”

Carmen arrived in the town of Elizabeth in New Jersey in 1985. She had studied sewing at the University of Costa Rica but longed to learn technical design in the United States to set up a manufacturing business in Costa Rica. Her husband Luis, who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, asked a leave of absence from the government to go to the USA for six months. His daughter was 16.

They arrived with $10,000 in their pockets, rented two rooms in a house and bought food out. After a few months, Luis told Carmen that they were going to stay to live there. They enrolled their daughter in school and Luis started studying gastronomy at New York University to later work in a restaurant for 19 years.

Carmen gave up her dream of starting a fashion business and got a job in an electronics factory where she assembled electronic parts for planes and computers. She did that for 12 years.

She fine-tuned her English with private classes and watching television, but during her first months she got by on the little she had learned in high school. At that time, speaking English was imperative for getting a job. Carmen related that people told her, “I’m sorry, this is America. You have to speak English.” The situation is different now. Miguel and Robert, after seven years of living in Plainfield, still don’t speak English.

In 1999, Carmen and Luis bought their first house. By then, their daughter had married Jose Gonzalez, also a Tico living in a foreign country. Isabel, while raising a family of three children under the protective wing of her parents, studied cosmetology, then bank administration and finally in February of 2013 she will graduate as a psychologist. Now she works during the day as a manager at Bank of America in Elizabeth while she studies at night.

In 2007, 22 years after arriving in the United States, Carmen and Luis obtained U.S. citizenship. Toward the end of December of 2012, Carmen survived two heart attacks, three heart surgeries and carries the weight of type 2 diabetes. At 64, she owns two office cleaning service businesses in which she actively works. Carmen’s life philosophy is that “the flowerpot on the porch doesn’t advance, my dear. You have to move it,” and so she’s been moving pots one after another to get to where she is.

But when you ask her if she regrets having forged her life in another country, she admits “at times, yes. Although I have papers, the Americans never accept me… and when I go to Costa Rica I ask myself, ‘Why do I have to go back [to the United States]?’”

Looking to the Future

Carmen hopes to retire in 2013 to be able to access her retirement account but she says she will continue working, although a little less because she wants to go to Costa Rica more often. For Carmen, living in the United States is “a school where you learn to mature, to defend yourself and to be able to live alone and depending on God. To draw closer as a family and to understand the people who are arriving. Here, either you learn and you float, or you sink.”

Miguel continues working at the waste collection company. He has a “sentimental” girlfriend but nothing serious; he doesn’t want to commit because he doesn’t want to stay in America. Now he’s thinking of taking an English class and returning to Nosara in two or three years to be a science teacher. Robert is returning to Costa Rica in January because he doesn’t want to be far away from his son anymore.

Sandra is in Nosara. Her house was completely destroyed by the earthquake on September 5th, so she hopes to go again to the States in March to make money and rebuild her house. “Everything has its price,” said Sandra. To her, the United States isn’t the country where she wants to live. She misses everything because for her, “there’s no life there.”

Source: Voice of Nosara by Emiliana Garcia

Even if they do, a global agreement under the UNFCCC is years away and does nothing to combat deforestation now. So, the countries have begun developing REDD programs today that can be absorbed into the national accounting systems that eventually emerge. It’s a procedure called nesting, and it’s being practiced around the world – from Peru to Vietnam.

Costa Rica and Chile, however, have signed formal agreements with the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) to develop their nesting strategies – becoming the first countries to formally involve an independent standard in the development of their REDD strategies. In addition, both countries are using their established forest conservation schemes as their starting point, giving them the credibility they need to attract both external investors and local participants. By taking these steps, they are broadening Latin America’s efforts to supply forest carbon credits and testing nesting procedures that others can learn from and emulate.

Chile’s National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) signed its agreement with VCS on December 2012, becoming the first national government to formally partner with an international carbon standard to address forest-related emissions at a national level. Months after, Costa Rica’s National Fund for Forest Finance (FONAFIFO) followed, signing on to a similar nesting-focused agreement to help the country reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2021. Each country also has agreements with the World Bank’s Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) and Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF).

Why it matters

This past year, Costa Rica became the first country to receive approval to access performance-based payments through the Carbon Fund under the FCPF. As part of Costa Rica’s Carbon Fund proposal, they are projecting emission-reductions close to 29.5 million tons of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) by the year 2020. Approximately half of these emissions (12.6 MtCO2) would be offered to the Carbon Fund, while the remaining would be put forward to other compliance market buyers, including through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

At the same time, Costa Rica is expecting to generate an additional 30.4 MtCO2 for the voluntary market – of which only 2 MtCO2 can be sold domestically. For the program to succeed, any credits generated have to appeal to international buyers, and that’s where the formal engagement with VCS comes in, according to FONAFIFO REDD Strategy Director Alexandra Saenz Faerron.

“We knew that our program needed to have a seal of quality and recognition and that VCS was an accepted international standard,” she says.

Chile, meanwhile, is working with the PMR to develop a national emissions trading scheme (ETS). The project is being directed under the Ministry of Energy, which oversees Chile’s greatest emitting sector; however, CONAF sits on the steering committee and is advocating for the inclusion of forestry pilot projects or early actions/assessments under this ETS effort.

Demand

Domestic demand is limited by the countries’ size and the fact that both are developing countries – or “non-Annex I” under the UNFCCC – which means neither is obligated to reduce emissions. Additional demand, however, may come from positioning REDD as a “Nationally-Appropriate Mitigation Activity” (NAMA).

Angelo Sartori, CONAF’s Chief Technical Secretariat for Forest Management, says Chile is working with Switzerland to explore the possibility of a forestry NAMA – beginning with a study on current and potential demand at both the domestic and international level.

Costa Rica, meanwhile, plans on tapping into the regulated market as a supplier in the near-term with the recent registration of their reforestation project, CoopeAgri, under the UNFCCC’s CDM. German Obando, a consultant for FONAFIFO, also says early stage discussions are being raised within FONAFIFO about establishing a regulatory framework at the national level in the long-term.

Social aspect

Representatives from both countries’ project proponents state they have contemplated pursuing social and environmental standards, which provide a value-add to carbon credits, but they are anticipating reaching that area in a later stage. In Chile’s case, Sartori says:

“First we’ll put our [REDD] strategy to use and then we’ll start adding on these different themes to bring more potential to the country in terms of the credits.”

Both countries are REDD countries under the FCPF and are following the FCPF’s social safeguards requirements already; therefore, both Chile’s Sartori and Costa Rica’s Saenz state they hope that will facilitate transitioning onto a social and environmental standard, such as the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard.

For Costa Rica in particular, biodiversity is heavily being weighed in the discussion considering the species richness of the country. With a land mass comparable to West Virginia – approximately 0.3% of the world’s land mass, Costa Rica is home to 4% – or around 500,000 – of the world’s species, making the country the highest worldwide in biodiversity density and one of the top 20 countries with the highest overall biodiversity. Given these numbers, co-benefits stemming from biodiversity could be significantly high for Costa Rica.

Where they stand now

In the meantime, both countries are working on strengthening their national REDD+ strategies, which are to include nesting frameworks. In Costa Rica, Obando says they are pushing to include harvested wood products in the scheme given that the country’s wood production potential far exceeds its domestic consumption. By bringing harvested wood products to the table, they intend to incentivize the private sector to invest in the sustainable management of harvested wood products, with the end goal of bringing private sector investment to the country’s national Payment for Ecosystem Services program, upon which their Carbon Fund proposal is based on.

In Chile, the diffusion phase of their national REDD+ strategy with all types of stakeholders is well on its way, according to Sartori. The country is “spinning” the initiative as voluntary and complementary to the subsidies CONAF grants to property owners for sustainable forest management and reforestation. In this manner, property owners are already involved in forest-related initiatives and may opt to “add-on” carbon credit generation.

It is clear that both countries have similar ambitions to reduce their forest-related emissions using their country-specific resources – whether that is a ten-year PES program or a new market analysis. With their recent VCS partnership, we’ll have to see how these agreements factor into the trajectory of each country’s forest carbon initiatives.

Source: Ecosystem Marketplace

But aloe is not just for external use. The gel, which has a slightly sour flavor and slimy texture, can be used internally as a medicinal supplement to treat digestive problems such as heart burn, ulcers, constipation, liver and gallbladder problems, and kidney and bladder malfunction. When the digestive system is balanced, the immune system is strong and vice versa. Likewise, when the skin, which is the largest body organ, is balanced, we are balanced.

According to the Journal of the American Pediatric Medical Association, there are reports of aloe as a successful treatment for arthritis, both as a preventative measure and in the reduction of inflammation in joints affected by arthritis. Another study written on cancer immunology and immunotherapy found that a compound from aloe called lectin, when injected directly into tumors, attacks the cancer. This was confirmed in a study of 673 lung cancer patients in Okinawa, Japan. This is important in our understanding of how to deal with environmental toxins we experience from vehicles and other carcinogens.

According to Ayurveda, aloe is cooling and is good for people who have a tendency towards anger, irritation or impatience. It is excellent for balancing out the tendency to overdo either in work or in relationships.

Preparations: Cut a section of the leaf, remove the spines and divide it in half. These aloe “patches” can be used to treat skin problems, for shaving, hair treatment or massage. It is important to separate the gelatin from the veins in the skin, which is bitter. This bitter flavor is called aloin and can cause a strong laxative effect. For a refreshing and healthy beverage, add one liter of water to the aloe gelatin and blend; also try adding watermelon, papaya, or honey.

Source: Voice of Nosara by Simeon Darwick

They linked up with journalism students at Elon University in North Carolina, who built a website describing the tribe’s way of life, including how it makes use of medicinal plants.

To help the Terraba tribe protect their land and culture, journalism students built an interactive website exploring the indigenous people’s history, religion and traditional medicine.

The 750-person tribe relies on an array of grasses, shrubs and seeds to treat everything from sunburns and colds to leukemia and prostate cancer.

None of their teas and ointments have the Food and Drug Administration’s seal of approval, but the plants have been mainstays of the Terraba tribe for centuries.

“The Terraba are a woman-centered society,” Amanda Sturgill, a journalism profesor who led the project, writes in an email to Shots. “Knowledge about cultivation and use of the plants is passed down through women. If they are relocated, though, access to some of these plants will be lost.”

Last summer, Sturgill and her students spent time with the Terraba tribe, whose roots trace back 10,000 years in Central America. “The leader of one of their clans let us photograph different plants and explained their uses,” she says.

The students pulled the information together in a website that also explores the Terraba’s language, history and traditions. The site launched Thursday.

“The Costa Rican government has said that the Terraba aren’t a robust culture enough to preserve them,” Sturgill says. “We are showing that they are unique.”

Source: NPR.org

A French couple heard her screaming by a surf lesson tent, they came to her rescue and brought her out of the water onto the beach.

There was a huge gaping hole in her thigh, which revealed her bone and was bleeding heavily.

At this point the emails we are receiving about the story do not reveal whether this was a shark or crocodile attack.

A police truck came onto the beach, and loaded her onto a stretcher, brought her into town, and transferred her to an ambulance.

We hope she is doing well, whoever she is, and if you have any additional information please email news(at)news.co.cr

Your privacy will be maintained when reporting news information to us.

Note there is no way to 100% prove the accuracy of this information submitted to The Costa Rica Star, we will use the collective wisdom of our readers and people who witnessed this to complete the news article.

The report, Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: a comparative analysis of population-based data from 12 countries, shows that between 41% and 82% of women who were abused by their partner experienced a physical injury, ranging from cuts and bruises to broken bones, miscarriages, and burns. Despite this, between 28% and 64% did not seek help or speak to anyone about their experience of violence.

The comparative analysis also shows that between 10% and 27% of women in these countries reported having experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, either by partners or by other perpetrators, but usually by men whom they already knew.

The report also highlights the intersections between violence against women and violence against children. Across the 12 countries studied, women who were beaten in childhood reported experiencing partner violence in adulthood at significantly higher rates than those who did not suffer violence in childhood.

“In addition to violating basic human rights, violence against women has serious consequences for the health of women and their children and impacts heavily on health services and health workers in the Region,” said Dr. Mirta Roses, PAHO’s Director.

This is the first time that nationally representative data have been analyzed and presented in a single comparative format that allows a snapshot of what is known about violence against women in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 156-page report presents a comparative analysis of data from interviews with more than 180,000 women in Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru.

“It is our hope that this report will motivate decision-makers to invest more resources in implementing evidence-based strategies that will prevent violence against women from ever taking place,” said Alessandra Guedes, PAHO Regional Advisor for Intra-family Violence and co-author of the report.

PAHO is the oldest international public health organization in the world. It works with its member countries to improve the health and the quality of life of the people of the Americas. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of WHO.

Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: a comparative analysis of population-based data from 12 countries, by Sarah Bott, Alessandra Guedes, Mary Goodwin, and Jennifer Mendoza. www.paho.org/violence

Media Contacts:

Leticia Linn, linnl@paho.org, Tel. + 202 974 3440, Mobile +1 202 701 4005, Donna Eberwine-Villagran, eberwind@paho.org, Tel. +1 202 974 3122, Mobile +1 202 316 5469, Sebastián Oliel, oliels@paho.org, Phone +1 202 974 3459, Mobile 202 316 5679, Knowledge Management and Communications, PAHO/WHO–www.paho.org

What did they do?

Blue bags treated with cholorpyrifos (CPF) dot the banana and plantain plantations in the Talamanca region of Costa Rica, on the Caribbean coast southeast of San Jose. The area is home to indigenous Bribri and Ngäbe.

To gauge children’s exposures to the insecticide, researchers compared levels of TCPy – a metabolite and marker of chlorpyrifos exposure – in children from three villages. The banana and plantain villages were near plantations that use CPF-treated bags, while the organic village was near several plantations with little or no insecticide use.

Researchers measured TCPy levels in urine samples collected from 140 children aged 6 – 9 from the three villages. The urinary TCPy levels were then used to back-calculate how much CPF the children had absorbed on average per day. These absorbed daily doses (ADDs) were compared to a reference dose that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for long-term exposures in children. The reference dose is called the chronic population adjusted dose, or cPAD (EPA 2002).

To assess environmental exposures, CPF levels also were measured in hand wash and foot wash samples collected from some of the children. Levels also were measured in soil, house dust, mattress dust, drinking water, surface water, and air samples collected from inside or near the children’s homes or near the local school.

What did they find?

On average, children in the banana and plantain villages had twice the TCPy levels in their urine with geometric means of 1.6 and 2.0 micrograms per liter (μg/L) compared to children from the organic banana village, who had an average of 0.8 μg/L.

Boys living in the plantain plantation also had higher TCPy levels than girls, suggesting that boys spend more time working in the plantation or assisting with other tasks associated with CPF exposure.

Alarmingly, the TCPy levels in urine suggested that more than half of the kids from all three villages exceeded the daily CPF reference dose considered safe by U.S. standards of 0.03 μg/kg/day for chronic exposures in children (EPA 2002). On average, children from the banana and plantain villages absorbed 3 times the reference dose, and those from the organic village absorbed 1.5 times the reference dose. The reference level was exceeded in 97 percent, 82 percent and 68 percent of the individual urine samples from the banana, plantain and organic village children, respectively.

The kids’ environment also was widely contaminated with CPF. In general, the banana village children had more contaminated home environments than the plantain village children. CPF levels in the hand- and foot-wash samples from the banana village also were 3 times higher than in the plantain village. Children from the banana village lived only 16 – 87 yards from the plantation and played in the schoolyard right next to the banana fields. The lower environmental exposures in the plantain village children may be because they lived farther away – a little over a mile – from the plantation.

What does it mean?

Pesticide exposures higher than recommended by U.S. standards are seen in children who live near plantations in Costa Rica that use insecticides when compared to children near organically farmed plantations. The findings raise concerns about long-term health effects on the youngsters.

The children living in two villages near banana and plantain plantations that use CPF-treated bags had higher exposures than children from a third village with mainly organic fruit production. Alarmingly, more than half of the studied children from all three villages also had calculated daily exposures that are considered unsafe according to U.S. standards.

The findings suggest that CPF-treated bags contribute to chlorpyrifos exposures in local Costa Rican children at levels that may affect their health. Although health effects were not measured directly in the children, previous studies link pre-birth CPF exposures to lower IQ, impaired memory, mental and motor development delays and higher rates of ADHD in children (Rauh et al. 2006, Rauh et al. 2011).

Prior to the 2001 regulatory changes in the United States, TCPy levels in U.S. children were even higher than in the Costa Rican children in the current study. These levels are partly why the U.S. CPF regs went into effect to prevent the use of CPF on various fruits. That year in the United States, CPF was banned for indoor pest-control use, and its use on tomatoes was stopped. Earlier in 2001, CPF was restricted for use on apples and grapes (EPA 2002).

U.S. health studies conducted around the same time reported that mean TCPy levels in 6- to 11-year-olds were 2.9 μg/L in 1999 – 2000 and 2.7 μg/L in 2001 – 2002 (CDC 2009). These levels were 35 – 81 percent higher than those found in the Costa Rican children from the two CPF-exposed villages. Although CPF exposures have likely decreased in U.S. children since 2001, more recent national health study data to confirm this trend have not yet been published.

Children of U.S. farm workers may have had even higher CPF exposures than the Costa Rican kids. A 2000 – 2001 study found TCPy mean level of 7.6 μg/L in farm kids from North Carolina and Minnesota whose fathers applied CPF (Alexander et al. 2006). The levels are 4 – 5 times higher when compared to the children from the Costa Rican study. In 2004, the TCPy mean level of 1.9 μg/L measured in 1- to 6-year-old farm worker children from North Carolina were more similar to Costa Rican children’s levels (Arcury et al. 2007).

In addition to concerns about CPF exposure, conventional banana production is rife with other health and environmental concerns. According to BananaLink, a U.K.-based advocacy group, banana workers can work up to 10 – 12 hours a day in blistering heat, without access to clean drinking water or protective equipment to help reduce exposures to agrochemicals. Many workers also do not earn a living wage.

The banana industry uses more agrochemicals than any other industry except for cotton. Pesticides are heavily used to meet consumer demand for perfect, unblemished fruit and because bananas – mostly grown in large monocultures – are highly prone to pests and disease. Pesticides and fertilizers pollute local waterways and can have devastating effects on ecosystems as well as worker health. Deforestation to plant more bananas also can destroy entire ecosystems.

New ways to reduce the need for pesticides and other agrochemicals on banana crops are being developed. Options include planting several varieties of bananas and rotating crops to lessen the chance of pest infestation, using pheromone traps to lure away pests, digging trenches around the banana plants and removing diseased plants by hand to reduce the spread of infestations and disease, and boosting the soil with organic matter and beneficial organisms to strengthen plants and improve soil health (ENDURE 2010).

These and other interventions to reduce CPF exposures in the banana and plantain plantations may ultimately help to protect environmental health, as well as the health of the plantation workers and their children.

Source: Environmental Heath News