Tri-national report corroborates toxic problem 
at abandoned Tijuana lead smelter

NAFTA’s fundamental flaws exposed
(Español)

(San Diego) – A report released by the environmental oversight commission of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) validates community health concerns about the toxic contamination from an abandoned lead smelter in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Independent analysis by experts cited in the report confirms the need for urgent action in the case to halt adverse health effects on people living or working in proximity to the unsecured, hazardous site.

The U.S.-owned maquiladora Metales y Derivados recycled lead from car batteries for 12 years before Mexican authorities closed it in March of 1994 for violations of Mexican environmental law. The smelter’s parent company, San Diego-based New Frontier Trading Corporation, left behind more than 7,000 metric tons of toxic waste when its owners abandoned the Metales site. The person responsible for the company, José Kahn, fled Mexico after a warrant was issued for his arrest in 1995 for alleged environmental crimes. Kahn currently lives in San Diego.

The NAFTA report was prompted by a 1998 petition filed by Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) in conjunction with a Mexican organization. The petition asserted that Mexico had failed to enforce its environmental laws when safety measures were not taken to prevent contamination from mounds of abandoned lead, cadmium, arsenic, antimony and other highly dangerous substances.

The report, released on February 11, is a compilation of government documents, technical information and other public data. Toxicological experts cited in the report indicate that substances at the Metales site pose "grave harm to human health."

The report shows that levels of lead contaminate found in the surface soil at the site are 551 times higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Preliminary Remediation Goal for contaminated residential soil. Even more than a mile way from the site, levels of lead contaminates likely remain as much as 55 times higher than EPA standards. The Metales site stands just 600 yards from Colonia Chilpancingo, home to more than 10,000 people.

The report also states that the Metales y Derivados site, "is not secured to prevent any person from entering the site and avert direct human contact with the pollutants. The pollutants are not contained in a manner to prevent their dispersal. It is easy for anyone, including children, to enter the site and come into direct contact with the hazardous waste – both the lead slag piles and the waste kept in sacks and drums."

César Luna, EHC’s policy consultant, said, "This is the first, independent, international report that supports what the members of Colonia Chilpancingo have been saying all along. However, the report falls far short of providing a remedy."

According to the report, the Mexican government cites lack of financial resources as a major obstacle for addressing community concerns by cleaning up the hazardous Metales site. However, Mexico’s recent actions to settle another NAFTA dispute cast doubt on the country’s "lack of resources" defense. In 1996, Metalclad, a U.S.-owned company, filed a claim against Mexico after a municipality in San Luis Potosí state prevented the waste-disposal company from opening a facility. The Mexican government paid Metalclad $16 million in October 2001 to resolve the case.

"This report reveals a fundamental flaw of NAFTA," Luna said. "While individual corporations can sue NAFTA countries and are able to obtain millions of dollars from them, communities get only a toothless report. This further exposes the double standard of NAFTA’s mechanisms for governmental response to community as opposed to corporate concerns."

The report, a culmination of a lengthy and complex petition process, does not draw conclusions or recommendations as to how to solve cases like Metales y Derivados or others brought to the tri-national commission. Lourdes Luján , a resident of Colonia Chilpancingo, said, "It is as if someone tells you that you have a malignant tumor but does not provide any treatment."

"Mexico has failed to enforce its laws in this case," Luna said. "It’s imperative that the Mexican government take definite and concrete steps immediately to protect the health and environment of residents and workers impacted by Metales y Derivados."

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