São Paulo in Seed Magazine

There is a small article in Seed Magazine about São Paulo, Science City: São Paulo. It starts with the usual misconceptions: a sprawling metropolis surrounded by ocean and rainforest. It is really a huge city with more than 15 million people but the nearest beach is about 80 Km from São Paulo and no rainforest is nearby. Anyway, the article mentions São Paulo University, Estação Ciência (a multidisciplinary museum), Arte Ciência no Palco (art and science on stage) and Butantan Institute (where you can see snakes and spiders alive). The article is very superficial and misses many important points. For instance, Instituto Butantan makes many vaccines and has to fight against the European and American pharmaceutical industries to export its products and even to sell them in Brazil. It will start to produce the bird flu vaccine soon. Also there are many high tech industries in São Paulo state, in cities like Campinas (telecommunications), São Carlos (optics), São José dos Campos (space and flight technology) and Ribeirão Preto (health and biotechnology). It would be fairer to have the title Science state: São Paulo.