HAVANA - A salve based on onion extract, manufactured in the eastern Cuban province of Guantánamo, is proving an effective substitute for steroids in treating psoriasis, a non-contagious skin disease that causes inflammation and dryness.

Castanyoca cream, created by scientist Noelvis Pineda, has been used for the past five years to treat psoriasis at the Agostinho Hospital in Guantánamo.

Pineda says the anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and healing characteristics of the onion help recuperate the natural texture of damaged skin, and, unlike steroid creams, can be applied anywhere on the body and used by patients of all ages. It also proves effective in treating acne.

It has also been found that patients treated with the natural medication, she says, improved their quality of life, and that the frequency of psoriasis crises was reduced.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Importers of used tires for retreading have won the latest battle in Brazil. A Supreme Court ruling on Dec. 12 authorized imports for the BS Colway firm, despite efforts by the Brazilian Environment Institute to ban the deal.

The environmental agency argues that the imports worsen the problem of the 100 million discarded tires, which take centuries to degrade in dumps and contribute to the dengue epidemic because the old tires accumulate water and serve as a breeding ground for the disease-carrying mosquitoes.

In 1999 the government ordered the tire industry to recycle used tires in gradually increasing quantities, a volume to be on par with production of new tires in 2004. 888 tires

Rubber recycling as a source of energy, asphalt or construction material has increased since.

BS Colway won a ruling in its favor by arguing that the government had authorized imports of retreaded tires from Uruguay and that the company more than met its recycling goals

CARACAS - The state-run electric company Edelca, which builds and operates several hydroelectic dams in southeast Venezuela, turned in 95 rattlesnakes (Crotalus terrificus) to laboratories of the Central University to produce a snakebite serum.

The measure is part of a wildlife management plan Edelca is carrying out during the filling of Lake Caruachi on the lower Caroni River. Some 9,500 animals, including deer, monkeys, armadillos, and numerous species of birds and reptiles have been relocated.

The firm collected armadillos to be used in the production of a leprosy vaccine, discovered in the 1980s by Venezuelan scientist Jacinto Convit.

GUATEMALA CITY - The Environment Ministry of Guatemala ordered the closing of the U.S.-based Duke Energy plant due to noise pollution, which was affecting the residents of several communities along the country's southern coast.

"The technicians found that the plant produced sounds of up to 86 decibels, compared to the maximum of 50 allowed by the Pan-American Health Organization," ministry spokesman Sergio del Aguila told Tierramérica.

The energy plant is located in Escuintla department, on the Pacific coast, with noise impacts for at least five nearby communities, he said.

Duke Energy attorney Otto Ayala says the order, issued Nov. 17, is "unjust", and told Tierramérica, "We will not heed this ruling because according to our measurements the noise levels are acceptable."

The ministry has given the company three weeks to appeal the closure. "It will only be able to reopen when it proves it does not violate environmental laws."

TEGUCIGALPA - The Regional Forestry Program of Central America (PROCAFOR), ended its operations after setting up more than 100 production groups involving Indians and peasant farmers, who now sustainably manage the forests.

Financed by the Finnish government, PROCAFOR spent 12 years working with at-risk communities to recuperate forests of evergreens and broad-leafed trees over more than 130,000 hectares in Central America.

The farmers "do not exhaust forest resources because they have new ways to reinvest in maintenance activities with planting, management of natural regeneration and maintenance of roads," one of the project leaders, Anita Vasa, told Tierramérica.

PROCAFOR in Honduras has called fro an end to illegal logging, which along with fires destroys 100,000 hectares of forest each year, according to the governmental Honduran Corporation for Forestry Development.

SAN JOSE - Twenty initiatives for rural and village tourism in the southeastern Costa Rican highland region of Talamanca, will become a pilot project in 2004 for Central America and will be prepared to obtain the Sustainable Tourism Certificate.

The projects involve training in clean technology, waste management, business administration and marketing, with support from local environmental and development organizations. Certification is being promoted to ensure that best practices are followed.

The aim is to achieve sustainable tourism in environmental, social and economic terms that can be replicated throughout the region, says Denia del Valle, coordinator of the Mesoamerican tourism program for the Forest Alliance.

The initiative is part of a broader plan to create a Global Council on Sustainable Tourism that would accredit sustainable practices and certification systems like the one being established in Central America.