Centerpiece

No let-up for Mexico’s toxic-waste woe

Mexico

Antonio Cisneros gazes across communal pastureland his family owns here, 4,500 sun-scorched acres (1,800 hectares) of dusty scrub punctuated by rocky outcrops. “If I lived here, I would die,” he says. Cisneros, 33, is not referring to the harsh climate. Instead, he is voicing his fears about a disposal site for hazardous industrial waste that borders his land in Mina, located just outside Monterrey in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León. The 3,200-acre (1,300-hectare) complex, owned by the private company Residuos Industriales Multiquim (Rimsa), is Mexico’s sole toxic-waste-disposal center. Cisneros and other locals believe pollutants dumped at the site are endangering the health of humans and animals in the vicinity. Rimsa and two local doctors dispute these claims. But... [Log in to read more]

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