GUATEMALA CITY, Oct 30 (Tierramérica) - In November and December, the first harvest will take place of the "super-maize" planted three months ago on 32 farms in Guatemala as part of a pilot project.

This super-maize is a variety that retains the original flavor of the millennia-old corn, domesticated by the Maya, and, without genetic modification, is high in protein.

"It was tested over 20 years without negative effects for humans. Now its consistency -- which used to be a little grainy -- has been improved, and it is now the same as common maize, but more nutritious," Jorge González, head of the National Coordinator of Basic Grains, explained to Tierramérica.

He said this super-maize, known by scientists as QPM (quality protein maize), represents a great opportunity for Guatemala, where the national diet is based on common maize, which is relatively low in protein.

Backing the project is the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

SANTIAGO, Oct 30 (Tierramérica) - Chile's consumer protection organization ODECU charged on Oct. 23 that chicken meat sold domestically had high quantities of water and too much salt, an ingredient that is harmful to the health of the two million Chileans who suffer hypertension.

ODECU urged the authorities to modify the food regulations that allow 12 percent of chicken to be water, by weight, which according to its estimates generates annual profits of nearly 95 million dollars for the poultry industry.

"We demand that they produce chicken without salt and that the Health Ministry establish a methodology to measure the water level of the meat," ODECU expert in the area, Omar Pérez, told Tierramérica.

The labels of the four main brands in Chile state that 100 grams of chicken meat contain between 255 and 395 milligrams of sodium.

SAO PAULO, Oct 30 (Tierramérica) - Some 1,800 buses of a public transportation system in Sao Paulo will be on the streets in an experiment involving the fuel B30, which is less polluting.

The new fuel mix, composed of 30 percent biodiesel, eight percent alcohol and 62 percent diesel, was developed by the National Technology Institute along with B100 Participacoes and BR Distribuidora.

"Although in the United States there are biofuel experiments in permanent fleets, of private businesses and military organizations, there doesn't appear to be an addition of alcohol, as in our case," Mauricio Henriques, director of the institute's energy division, told Tierramérica.

Tests in the laboratory and of the vehicles themselves will be conducted periodically, to study fuel consumption, emissions, and durability, as well as fuel quality.

CARACAS, Oct 30 (Tierramérica) - Team Paují (named for the Pauxi pauxi, an endangered bird) won first place in the 10th Bird-a-thon, a birdwatching marathon, held Oct. 22 in the Caracas metropolitan area, sponsored by the Venezuelan chapter of the Audobon Society.

Under the command of Swedish guide Johan Kvarnback, Team Pauí identified 88 species -- including the black hawk-eagle (Spizaetus tyrannus) -- in a 6-hour trek through parks and suburbs, in a friendly competition with other teams of 120 birdwatchers who searched skies, forests and ponds.

Caracas, "despite the ill treatment of the environment, is home to more than 200 bird species, while on the Avila (the mountain separating the capital from the Caribbean Sea), there are 450," Audubon president Marieta Hernández told Tierramérica, after presenting Kvarnback's team with its prize of chocolates.

MONTEVIDEO, Oct 30 (Tierramérica) - From Oct. 23 to Nov. 12, the campaign "Your Pages Are Re-Usable" is collecting old telephone books for recycling in the Uruguayan capital.

The initiative is part of the environmental education program of Repapel, organized by the non-governmental research center CEADU, the company Volt Directories, with support from the Montevideo municipal government.

Federico Baráibar, a Repapel volunteer, explained to Tierramérica that the effort will be focused on the 400,000 books of Yellow Pages distributed by Volt in 2005 in the capital, whose population is about 1.5 million.

Participating in Repapel are more than 25,000 children, some 500 teachers and 75 sponsors. The recycled products produced are returned to the school in proportion to the volume of paper that the schools collect.

"What the schools ask for most is toilet paper," said Baráibar, although they also order notebooks and other paper goods.