MEXICO CITY - The 12o million children living in Canada, Mexico and United States are exposed to the annual emissions of more than four million tons of dangerous substances that are proven or suspected to be carcinogens, toxic to fetal development or neurotoxins.

We have to be sure we are doing the best we can in evaluating, preventing and reducing the risks to our children, says a preliminary report from the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, open for public discussion until May 15.

The aim of the report, titled "Toxic chemical substances and children's health in North America", is to advance a plan for improving the environment in which the region's children live -- 25 million of whom are poor and therefore more vulnerable, according to the commission.

The emissions of dangerous substances is substantial, but on the decline, as the proportion of carcinogens fell 10 percent from 1995 to 2000, and neurotoxins fell 13 percent.

LIMA - Illegal coca plantations have caused environmental damage to the Peruvian Amazon of an estimated 1.5 billion dollars, due to clearing of forest and logging, says an official report from the Peruvian government.

The report was presented in early May by Lucio Batallana, head of the environmental division at the National Commission for Development and Life Without Drugs, which promotes the eradication of illicit drug crops.

"In a bid to escape poverty, every year thousands of families from the Andean sierra migrate to the tropical regions, where they clear an average of five hectares of forest in order to grow one hectare of coca," the raw material for cocaine.

Dating back to the Inca Empire, the indigenous peoples have chewed coca leaves, which are consumed today in this way by four million Peruvians, according to the National Statistics Institute. But the illegal drug trade acquires 85 percent of the 53,000 tons of coca produced annually in Peru.

BUENOS AIRES - The bird and fish species of Antarctica are threatened by excessive fishing, says a study by Argentine scientists.

The most affected fish are the icefish (Cryodraco antarcticus) and the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), and various species of albatross and petrels are killed, as they often get caught on the hooks of the fishing nets, Beatriz González, an expert from the science faculty at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), told Tierramérica.

Scientists from UBA, the Argentine Antarctic Institute and the National Institute for Fisheries Development and Research carried out the study to establish the evolution of big fish species that do not travel in schools.

The experts say the Patagonian toothfish, which has a low reproduction rate, is endangered because of its high commercial value, while the icefish, also a dinner table favorite, suffers from excessive and illegal fishing, González said.

BOGOTA - Some 160 plants used to treat malaria by black healers and indigenous shamans in Colombia have been targeted by the Malaria Research Group at the local University of Antioquia with the intention of developing new medications.

The group's coordinator, Silvia Blair, said these plants could prove to be an important alternative to prevent as well as cure malaria.

Researchers have collected plants from various families of flora, including the Asteraceae and Solanacea. They have been successful in extracting their principal components and in isolating some of the material from the stalks, leaves and flowers of these species.

Physicians, epidemiologists, chemists and botanists found that some of the molecules that were isolated inhibit the growth in vitro of the Plasmodium that cause malaria.

The material has proven to have anti-malaria properties in cells and in mice. The next step is to conduct tests using monkeys, with sights on clinical tests on human in two years.

TEGUCIGALPA - In the Mosquitia region of Honduras, in the northeast, a group of rural communicators is promoting a radio news program focused on sustainable development and cultural preservation among the Misquita, Tawakhas and Pech indigenous communities.

Mosquitia, home to 58,000 people, is considered the "lungs" of this Central American country, and can only be reached by air or by sea.

The Coco radio station broadcasts environmental information in Spanish and in Misquito, and is linked up with broadcasters in the Honduran capital.

"We aim to put Mosquitia on the national agenda," broadcast director Edilberto Chirinos told Tierramérica.

We are trying to bring attention to the area's natural resources situation, "given that the forest was the natural 'hospital' of our ancestors and is now being destroyed," he said.

SAN JOSE - There are 2,800 Costa Rican farm workers affected by the insecticide nemagon (dibromochloropropane) are demanding payment of the compensation that was agreed with the National Insurance Institute (INS), which so far has failed to issue checks on time.

Workers from Limón (100 km west of San José), Puntarenas (120 km east of the capital) and Guanacaste (in the country's Pacific north), staged demonstrations outside the offices of the INS, the Citizen Ombudsman and the Treasury Ministry.

The protesters say they will maintain a presence in front of those buildings until the INS guarantees payment of compensation for the health effects of exposure to nemagon on banana and pineapple plantations in the 1970s.

The use of nemagon is now banned in Costa Rica but, as in Nicaragua and Honduras, the impacts remain, manifest in the health problems suffered by the workers who were exposed to the agro-chemical.

GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala will soon have a satellite monitoring system for its natural resources as part of a program of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which in two year will provide 350,000 dollars in infrastructure and training.

The monitoring process, with technical groundwork begun in April, will take place using satellite photos and radar, in addition to existing topographic and geographical information, said Jorge Cabrera, the project's advisor.

NASA's contribution will go towards computer equipment and staff training for overseeing the "virtual flights" that will provide data on geography, geology, water resources and other natural resources, he told Tierramérica.

The Guatemalan program is part of an agreement between NASA and the Central American Environment and Development Commission, CCAD, for satellite monitoring of the entire region's resources.