Is Mexico a U.S. Dumping Ground?

One reporter, environmental specialist, Marcos Orellana, is calling Mexico a “toxic crisis” that has become a “garbage sink” in which the US exposes Mexican communities to dangerous pollution. His argument, though, doesn’t make any real or direct connection.

Just what does he say after an 11-day investigative mission in Mexico last month? He said he found lax environmental standards and a lack of oversight, which have allowed pollution to accumulate over the years. Lack of oversight in the country would be a Mexico problem, not a United States problem.

He also claims, “… adding that imports of hazardous and plastic waste from the United States were worsening the situation.” Sorry, but if Mexico is accepting hazardous and plastic waste from the U.S., that would be an internal Mexico problem. He then goes on to accuse “US over-consumption and economic activity” as making Mexico “a garbage sink.” While I do agree that the United States tends to be over-consumers, that has nothing to do with Mexico being a garbage sink… unless Mexico allows it to be.

Orellana stated there were more than 1,000 contaminated locations officially recorded in Mexico’s National Inventory of Contaminated Sites, where diseases such as cancer, and medical events such as miscarriages, were normalized. He cited factories spewing hazardous waste into the Atoyac River in Puebla (nowhere near the U.S.), huge industrial pig farms contaminating drinking water on the Yucatan peninsula (again, nowhere near the U.S.), and a decade-old mining chemical spill that continued to affect health in communities around the Sonora River (closer to the U.S., but nowhere within our borders). He said many of these situations left residents struggling with dire health effects.

He cited the industrial corridor of Tula, in the Mexican state of Hidalgo, where steel plants, cement factories and petrochemical facilities operate near a river polluted by industrial waste and untreated sewage from Mexico City. Neither Hidalgo or Mexico City are near the United States. He also stated that companies are not held responsible for preventing, mitigating and repairing the damage.

Government records show the US ships hundreds of thousands of tons of hazardous waste to Mexico each year, including lead-acid car batteries, as well as common scrap such as plastic, paper and metal for recycling. Environmental groups have questioned whether the country is equipped to handle all this without it leading to pollution.

Maybe the reporter should acknowledge the fact that none of this is happening at gunpoint. No one is forcing Mexico to take our waste. If Mexico can’t uphold their constitutional guarantee of a healthy living environment, it’s their problem. The author shouldn’t blame the United States for its over- consumption habits.

Even President Sheinbaum’s administration has acknowledged that regulatory standards, such as rules for how much pollution factories can emit, are out of date, and have announced plans to strengthen them. Good for her!

I love a good reporter, however, blaming the United States for Mexico’s “garbage dump” status is an insult to the United States, and to Mexico, especially when every example he mentions, originates within Mexico’s own borders.

Source used: The Guardian