      The federal police force said it provided the robot. Its
statement added that 100 federal police, marines and local
officers were still guarding the area.  Eibenschutz said a
farmer was being checked at a hospital after showing signs of
radiation exposure. The man, who lives in the nearby farming
town of Hueypoxtla, told authorities that he handled the
material after finding it in the field and started feeling sick
soon after.  The cobalt-60, which was from obsolete medical
equipment used in radiation therapy, was being transported to a
waste facility by a truck that was stolen at gunpoint early Dec.
2 when the driver stopped to rest at a gas station in Hidalgo
state.  Two days later, authorities found the truck abandoned in
neighboring Mexico state. The thieves had removed the cobalt-60
from its protective container and left it nearby in the field
about a kilometer (a half a mile) from Hueypoxtla, a town of
about 4,000 people. Officials have said the material posed no
threat to the town, saying it was