harelb@cabot.dartmouth.edu (Harel Barzilai) (06/18/91)
"The region [...] has become a dumping ground for toxic waste and
pesticides by multinational corporations whose actions are rarely
monitored by Mexico's cash-strapped environmental agency [...] an
official acknowledged [..] that only about 35 per cent of the
U.S.-owned factories along the 3,200 kilometre border were
believed to be complying with Mexican environmental laws covering
their operations and their disposal of toxic waste."
"The maquiladoras have thrived on Mexico's low labour costs to
become the most dynamic part of its manufacturing sector. Mexican
officials expect them to continue expanding as the two countries
eliminate trade barriers and push for increased border
industrialization."
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Topic 43 Mexican environmental disaster
hfrederick carnet.mexnews 4:07 pm May 10, 1991
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Cc: econet
Subject: Mexican environmental disaster
From: "D. S. Shniad" <USERNQRW%SFU.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
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Mexico City -- The U.S.-Mexico border region, plagued by
uncontrolled growth and unrelenting pollution, is fast becoming an
environmental disaster zone, experts say.
The once-desolate region is now home to some 2,000
maquiladoras -- foreign-owned manufacturing and assembly plants
-- on the Mexican side of the border.
"The border region cannot survive this beating," says Homero
Aridjis, president of the Group of 100, an influential Mexican
environmental organization.
"Multinationals are turning a desert with limited water and
other resources into an industrial centre without thinking about
tomorrow."
The region, called a "virtual cesspool" in a report last year
by the American Medical Association, has become a dumping ground
for toxic waste and pesticides by multinational corporations
whose actions are rarely monitored by Mexico's cash-strapped
environmental agency, according to environmentalists.
Rene Altamirano, an official of the agency -- known as SEDUE
-- acknowledged in remarks at a recent border trade conference
that only about 35 per cent of the U.S.-owned factories along the
3,200 kilometre border were believed to be complying with Mexican
environmental laws covering their operations and their disposal of
toxic waste.
"We just don't have the resources to track down all those who
are violating the laws," Altamirano said.
The maquiladoras have thrived on Mexico's low labour costs to
become the most dynamic part of its manufacturing sector. Mexican
officials expect them to continue expanding as the two countries
eliminate trade barriers and push for increased border
industrialization.
The proposed free trade accord between Canada, the U.S. and
Mexico, which could take effect by 1993, would further encourage
growth on the Mexican side of the border.
"What is now a danger zone would become an environmental war
zone," Aridjis says.
Environmental and labour groups say they have documented
dozens of environmental abuses by major U.S. companies --
including the dumping of toxic chemicals into rivers used for
drinking water and fishing, illegal disposal of hazardous waste
and constant spewing of dangerous chemicals from plants.
The critics say the population in the border region, which
lacks a sufficient sewage system and suffers chronic water
shortages, has doubled in the last decade.
Maquiladora officials gathered at a recent conference in
Mexico City privately acknowledged that lax enforcement of Mexican
laws was a selling point for U.S. companies looking to expand and
cut costs.
--Reuters