Revealed: US hazardous waste is sent to Mexico – where a ‘toxic cocktail’ of pollution emerges
Revealed: US hazardous waste is sent to Mexico – where a ‘toxic cocktail’ of pollution emerges
Investigation finds very high levels of lead and arsenic in homes near a factory processing US toxic waste
Summary
US companies exported 1.4 million tons of hazardous waste in 2022, nearly half of which went to Monterrey, Mexico.
Toxic substances from Zinc Nacional, a local recycling plant processing US steel dust, have polluted nearby homes, schools, and soil with lead, arsenic, and cadmium, exceeding US health thresholds by hundreds of times.
Experts call the waste trade "toxic colonialism," citing Mexico's weaker regulations and enforcement.
Residents report health issues, while the company claims compliance. Mexican authorities are investigating amid calls for stricter oversight and accountability.
Guns brought in through the border, toxic waste infecting the population, and now Trump wants to start a trade war with Mexico and other countries...
Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the US was responsible for like half of Mexico's problems.
To be fair, it seems like Mexico should have never allowed this toxic dust to be brought into their country in the first place. It sounds like there is no safe way to extract zinc from this dust?
But if that's the case, the US shouldn't be allowed to sell it to other countries either.
System working as intended. It's not intentionally being done to destabilize Mexico so that the US can have cheap labor and a depressed secondary market. But for some reason we're not in the business of "nation building" in Mexico, like we were in say Iraq or Afghanistan. Even though the way narco cultura operate is very similar to ISIL/ISIS/ISI.
I dunno something to do with the petro dollar and needing a secondary manufacturing market where corporations can buy Chinese parts and assemble them to bypass tariffs and trade agreements.
Not to say that any nation building efforts would help the Mexican people, just that it's convenient to have a cheap source of labor on our southern border. Especially one where through NAFTA corporations aren't beholden to US Law.
See CocaCola for a prime example.
That guy should sue them for infringing on his trademark Stew.
We're not sending out best.