On the eve of a predicted record soybean harvest, an Argentine forestry engineer, backed by environmental groups, began a hunger strike against crop fumigation with dangerous agro-chemicals. Through his hunger strike, Claudio Lowy is calling attention to a report he presented last year to the People's Defender of the Nation, in which he demands a halt to the contamination through fumigation that he says affects as many as 12 million rural dwellers.

Consulted by Tierramérica, Esteban Roglich, of the National Network for Ecological Action in the northern province of Santa Fe, declared that the strike, which began Nov. 9 outside the Office of the People's Defender, “has the support of all organizations in the network.”