Mexican Environmental Laws

Stephanie Thorson

One of the reasons Mexico is so “attractive” is that its environmental regulations are extremely lax. Near the Mexican experimental free-trade zones, the U.S. border communities must live with the sewer their society helped create.

In San Elizario, Taxas, an aquifer shared with Mexico has been contaminated and 90 per cent of the population contract Hepatitis A by age 35.

Recent tests on both sides of the border at Nogales, show groundwater is contaminated with high levels of cadmium, chromium, arsenic and other chemical pollutants, released by the border manufacturers.

The New River, which flows from Mexico to California, has been declared a health hazard by the state of California because of high levels of human and industrial waste. The list continues.

Stephanie Thorson, Friends of the Earth

(CX5060)

 

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