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Environmental Review: Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic Chemicals in the US-Mexico Borderlands: A Regional Assessment of the Situation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

John P. Tiefenbacher
John P. Tiefenbacher*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos.
*
Department of Geography, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666; (fax) 512-245-8353; (e-mail) jt04@swt.edu.
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Abstract

Persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic materials are a special group of chemicals and heavy metals that are both synthetic and natural in origin. As pesticides, industrial wastes, and mining byproducts, they have contaminated air, water, and land, and they are biomagnified. Recent national, regional, and international agreements have targeted approximately two dozen contaminants for evaluation, control and elimination from the environment. This paper is a review and evaluation of the current and future impacts of 27 toxic materials in the US-Mexican border region. Because of economic development, population growth, and unique environmental conditions in the region, concern about them should be much higher. Evidence from research conducted within 100 kilometers of the border shows that though the effort is ongoing, there are not enough data upon which to confidently conclude that efforts to reduce contamination have been successful. In a few cases, investigators have detected a reduction of some materials in some biota, but the paucity of information, particularly in Mexico, leaves little hope that the health and welfare of the borderland's occupants will be preserved. The environmental Practitioner can contribute by focusing efforts on cross-border collaboration, on coordinated ecosystem or watershed-based analyses, and on the development of methods to accurately identify sources of contaminants for locations that lack detailed accounting.

Type
Features & Reviews
Information
Environmental Practice , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , March 2000 , pp. 89 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © National Association of Environmental Professionals 2000

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