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Loading ...Brazil Bans Sale of Formaldehyde
Friday, June 19th, 2009If you are a woman who goes frequently to a hair salon — and all latinas I know do –chances are very good that you have heard of, or have even had, the popular “Brazilian blowout,” also known as Brazilian keratin treatment or escova progressiva (progressive blow-dry). But did you know that many (if not […]
Oaxaca Gets a Comprehensive Waste Law
Friday, June 5th, 2009The legislature of the Mexican state of Oaxaca (OX) just sent the governor a gift for World Environment Day: a comprehensive state solid waste law. Since Mexico adopted its federal General Law for the Prevention and Integrated Management of Wastes in 2003, the Federal District (DF) and many states have adopted their own general waste […]
São Paulo Offers Packaging Bill for Public Comment
Friday, May 22nd, 2009The Environment Secretariat (SMA) of São Paulo (SP) today published for public comment on its website a draft bill for a law on post-consumer packaging. The bill would create a rather complex shared responsibility system to ensure that post-consumer packaging in SP is either recycled or reused. Anyone wishing to submit comments or suggested changes to the […]
Culmina armonización andina de requisitos para productos de higiene doméstica y absorbentes de higiene personal
Monday, April 20th, 2009Synopsis in English: The Andean Community (CAN) is putting the finishing touches on the new Community norm to harmonize member states’ (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) sanitary control regimes regarding household and personal hygiene products, such as soaps, detergents, fabric softeners, surface cleansers, stain removers, bleaches, air fresheners, sanitary towels, disposable diapers, tampons, towelettes, etc. To […]
DR Authority Criticizes Deceptive Advertising by Stores
Friday, March 20th, 2009When you move to a new country, you immediately start noticing how it differs from your former home. Differences that perhaps you knew about intellectually and maybe even noticed in visits before you moved, but they just did not truly sink in before you were actually confronted by them in daily life. When my family […]
Finally, a Chance for a Global Mercury Accord / Por fin, un chance para un acuerdo global sobre el mercurio
Saturday, February 21st, 2009When the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Governing Council (GC) considered and agreed on the draft decision on chemicals management, including mercury, this past Thursday, I was in the room. It’s difficult to say which emotion filled the conference room more — joy or excitement. There was plenty of both. This decision had been many years […]
Mexico City Formally Implements Its Waste Law…Finally!
Friday, October 10th, 2008This week Mexico’s Federal District (DF) — the zone encompassing Mexico City and its environs — published the implementing regulation for its 2003 Waste Law — five years later than called for by the Law. Although the lack of an implementing does not stop a law from being applied and programs being launched (and the […]
Toward a Cosmetovigilance System for Latin America?
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008A key focus of the recent Tenth Meeting of Sanitary Authorities of the Americas in the Cosmetics, Personal Hygiene and Perfume Sector (Reunión de Autoridades Sanitarias de las Américas del Sector de Higiene Personal, Perfumería y Cosméticos – RASA) in São Paulo and the need for cosmetovigilance in the region. What is RASA and what […]
Giving LAC’s First Plastic Packaging Law Teeth
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007An interesting thing happened over the last two weeks. Well, interesting to people like me who’ve been following the packaging waste debate for decades, at least. Environment enforcement officials for Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state “blitzed” supermarkets in Rio de Janeiro city — first on 19 October in the well-to-do Leblon section, then on 23 […]
A Huge Donation for Brazil’s Chief Consumer NGO / Uma donação grande para a ONG brasileira principal de defesa do consumidor / Una donación grande para la ONG brasileña principal de defensa del consumidor
Thursday, August 16th, 2007This grant from the MIF is a major coup for the Brazilian Consumer Defense Institute (IDEC), probably increasing their operating funds by 50% and cementing their lead as Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC) best funded consumer group. Parabéns, IDEC e Marliena Lazzarini (a Presidente do Instituto). To understand better the importance of IDEC and […]