Mexico identifies nearly 300 toxic waste sites

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Mexico identifies nearly 300 toxic waste sites

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10:58, April 24, 2008

Nearly 300 toxic waste sites have been identified across Mexico, most

of them premises abandoned by industrial operations, officials said on

Wednesday.

At least 297 toxic sites have been discovered so far, and there are

probably many more such sites, said Mauricio Limon, undersecretary of

Mexico's Environment and Natural Resources Ministry (Semarnat).

An initial study of 184 sites found a total of 553,000 cubic meters of

dangerous substances, which are capable of filling half of the

country's biggest Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, local daily Reforma

quoted Limon as saying.

According to the National Ecology Institute, 36 percent of the toxic

waste dumps were found to have hazardous metals like zinc, lead,

mercury and chromium.

Moreover, 17 percent of the pollutants are infectious biological

residues, Limon said.

Source:Xinhua

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