Cocaine labs dumping millions of chemicals into Amazon

Associated Press Writer

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil Cocaine labs are dumping millions of tons of
chemicals into the Amazon and its tributaries, risking an environmental
disaster, Brazil says.

The chemicals including ether, acetone, sulfuric acid and sodium
hydroxide are changing the acidity of the river and destroying delicate
ecosystems, Brazil's federal police and environmental agency said, in a
joint report outlined by the daily O Globo newspaper Sunday.

About 2,500 fish species are threatened, according to the report.

Brazil's environmental agency has asked the foreign ministry to hold a
meeting of environmental authorities from Brazil, Peru and Colombia this
month in hopes of reaching an accord on stopping the pollution.

Posted at 9:13 p.m. PDT Sunday, August 31, 1997