Montevideo, Apr 28 (PANOS/Anahi Rama) -- "Protect the environment, fix your sidewalk", urges the ecologically-slanted slogan of a cleaning and repair company.

"Natural product" is how yerba mate, a traditional herbal drink, is proudly labelled now; yoghurts have turned overnight into "bio-yoghurts"; unleaded gasoline carries the prefix "super eco"; and chains of "natural supermarkets" have sprung up throughout the region.

From soaps and petrol to paper, a host of industries in Latin America's MERCOSUR trading region, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, seem to be switching to green technologies.

But appearances can be deceptive -- alongside some genuine efforts are unscrupulous businesses aiming to ride piggyback on a nascent consumer movement only to boost their sales, environmentalists say.

Misleading green advertising is an increasing trend not only in Latin America, but also in Asia.

The environment has been heralded by Advertising Age magazine as "the marketing tool of the 1990s, at least until the next hot button starts glowing," according to Consumers International, a London-based non-governmental organisation.

Maria Elena Hurtado of Consumers International says, "In countries where they exist, regulations and guidelines on environmental claims in advertising and marketing have established some order, but the problem of misleading or unsubstantiated claims remains."

In fact, very little appears to have changed in the processes of production in MERCOSUR countries since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, according to several specialists interviewed by Panos Features.

Silvia Ribeiro, head of "Redes-Amigos de la Tierra" (Friends of the Earth Networks), one of the most active environmental organisations in Uruguay, believes a few examples of greening local companies and transnational corporations do not point to a wider trend.

"It is not part of a general or revolutionary change. What does exist is widespread abuse by advertising of the growing ecological awareness," Ribeiro says.

There are, however, no government regulations in the MERCOSUR countries to prevent companies misleading consumers with green advertisements.

Environmentalists say that the apparent move toward cleaner production in the region is the result of trade compulsions, not consumer pressure.

"There is a great deal of external pressure, especially on exporting companies, which are the ones that have been able to survive, for instance, in Uruguay," says Walter Bonet, a member of the Environmental Committee of the Chamber of Industries of Uruguay (CIU).

"For that reason alone, CIU has dedicated itself to the diffusion of ISO 14000 environmental regulations among its members," he adds.

The four Latin American countries formed MERCOSUR, or the Southern Cone Common Market, in 1991, liberalising trade between them, making it more interdependent and expanding the market to 200 million.

Today, MERCOSUR is one of Latin America's strongest sub-regional integration blocs (trade between the four countries accounts for 40% of regional commerce), and is drafting its own environmental regulations for traded goods. The regulations are intended to harmonise the laws of the four countries and to ease trade with other groupings, such as the European Union.

There are few data on what changes have taken place since the Rio Summit, and estimates tend to vary greatly.

One study conducted by Brazilian consultancy agencies and published in the magazine, Gestao Ambiental (Environmental Management) praised the chemical, paper and cellulose, and automobile industries as the most environmentally friendly productions in Brazil.

But experts such as Ribeiro and Carlos Perez of the environmental consultancy, Linea Verde (Green Line) scoff that claim. They say that cellulose and other factories that have been closed down in the North because they are contaminating, have relocated to MERCOSUR countries.

A Spanish-owned company has set up a cellulose factory in Fray Bentos, 300 km north-west of Montevideo. Another company, a paper recycling plant (also Spanish-owned), has relocated to Uruguay after closing down its Spanish operation. The factory uses an enormous amount of fresh water in its production.

TNCs are controversial too. While Environment Ministry and CIU officials think cleaner technologies introduced in mother companies have been transferred to MERCOSUR factories, environmental organisations say this has been done only partially and accuse TNCs of performing a "well-rehearsed green make-up job."

"Today there are some TNCs which are involved in afforestation activities in several countries of Latin America. But they are planting such trees as Eucalyptus, which grow rapidly, but also finish up the ground water very quickly," Ribeiro says.

Local companies also face problems of waste disposal.

There is a lack of affordable lines of credit that can help companies set up waste-water treatment plants without losing their competitive edge. And while ecological (pesticide-free) agriculture has been introduced in small-scale production, large farms continue to employ pesticides and chemicals that are banned in developed countries.

But government pressure is minimal. The deadlines that companies are set, to build effluent treatment plants sometimes stretch to six or seven years. Fines charged for water pollution (ranging from 160 dollars to 50,000 dollars) are ineffective -- companies often prefer to pay up and continue polluting.

Latin American companies, much like their counterparts elsewhere, appear unwilling to bear the costs of clean production, officials admit.

"It is true that industrialists always complain," said Martin Etcheverry, Environmental Quality Director in the Ministry of Housing, Territorial Management and Environment. "But they need to show the maturity required to tackle (the problem of) industrial production, including the costs involved in ecological preservation."