Recycling Used Motor Oil Packaging in Brazil
Thursday, December 25th, 2008In past posts I’ve discussed how recovery of used motor oil is still in its early stages in Latin American nations such as Brazil and Colombia. But that’s only part of the waste problem generated by the lubricants we use in motor vehicles. There’s also the packaging that the new motor oil comes in, the […]
New Cigarette Health Warnings/Images in Chile
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008A couple of weeks back Chile’s Health Ministry (Minsal) announced a new warning that, according to a new decree just published in the official gazette, all cigarette packs placed on the Chilean market must bear starting on 16 November. Chile, it appears, has decided to forgo the shock treatment approach that Brazil and Uruguay have […]
New Tough Pack Images for Cigarettes in Uruguay
Saturday, September 20th, 2008At the end of August the Public Health Ministry (MSP) of Uruguay ordered five new images and accompanying text which must be placed on packaging of cigarettes. The image must occupy 50% of one of the two main faces of the pack, the accompanying text, 50% of the other main face. Manufacturers of cigarettes must […]
The Disease Burden Associated with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008Last month the World Health Organization (WHO) released, without much fanfare, Safer Water, Better Health, its estimate of how many deaths or how much “disease burden” can be attributed to deficiencies in water, sanitation and hygiene (WSH). Access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation is key to improving health conditions in developing countries. Water-related […]
Another Historic Court Judgment Against Officials Not Doing Their Job
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007Yesterday (31 May), it seems, was a banner day for court judgments taking LAC executive branch officials to task for not doing their job in enforcing environment laws. First the Brazilian case finding that federal environment officials must share in the environmental damage reparation costs and compensation for coal mining pollution they did not address […]
Is Meeting the MDGs for Water & Sanitation Good Enough?
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006This month the World Health Organization (WHO) released a progress report on meeting the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as they apply to access to “improved” water and sanitation, using data collected by the WHO/UNICEF joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). As the WHO report I recently reviewed on the linkage between environmental conditions and health […]