An industrial boom in a US manufacturing hub in Mexico is contributing to a massive air pollution crisis that is threatening residents’ health, according to new research by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab.
The polluting facilities in Monterrey include factories that are operated by companies from around the world – including the US, Europe, Asia and Mexico – but export largely to the US.
And the facilities are pumping more toxic heavy metals into the city’s air than the totals reported in many US states, the analysis finds for the first time, as well as more earth-warming carbon dioxide than nearly half the nations in the world.
The industrial pollution in Monterrey, a metro area of 5.3 million people that is 150 miles (241km) from the Texas border, has contributed to its ranking as the metro with the worst fine-particulate air pollution in Mexico, the US, or Canada in a recent study that looked at trends up to 2019.
The problem persists. Daily, residents here live with about twice the levels of fine particulate air pollution as those in Los Angeles, which has long been the most polluted major metro in the US. And on bad days, the area sometimes has among the worst pollution levels in the world.
Long-term exposure to this kind of air pollution has been linked to thousands of deaths per year in the area.
Monterrey is one of the only major metro areas in the three nations where such air pollution has remained stubbornly high, at a time when most cities are accomplishing vast reductions in harmful pollutants.
The findings come as residents have mounted protests about the air quality in Monterrey, with some carrying signs saying “We want to breathe” and demanding that the federal government take action.
Click here to read the complete, original article on The Guardian
Source: The Guardian
