l spills . . . turned fishing waters into barren gunk and farm land into blackened crust and pearly muck" (p. 128).
According to the Center for Investigative Reporting et al. (1990), "used batteries contain poisonous lead and acids, but because of an exemption in U. S. environmental regulations, batteries that are still intact and are exported for recycling are not classified as hazardous wastes" (p. 61). They are regularly sent by U.S. manufacturers to lead smelters in Brazil, Mexico, India, Taiwan and other LDCs.
Since 1983, foreign companies have been permitted to own 100 percent of component assembly plants along the Mexican-U.S. border known as maquiladoras where wages are low and to which the Mexican government extends various other incentives. Elmer-Dewitt (1991, May 20) said they "have drawn thousands of Mexicans into already crowded border cities, overwhelming municipal services and turning much of the region into a cesspool" (p. 51). According to a 1991 report by the National Toxic Campaign Fund, 75 percent of such plants discharged into public waterways untreated toxic chemicals, such as xylene, a toxic solvent, in concentrations 6,300 times higher than permitted in the United States (Elmer-Dewitt, 1991, May 20, p. 51). Karliner (1997) reported that under NAFTA (1993), "the . . . environmental situation along the border has deteriorated" (p. 156).
Extent of the Problem and Its Causes
Toxic or hazardous waste products come from a variety of sources, including municipal garbage incinerators, nuclear power plants, asbestos-laden U. S. Navy ships, etc. Most are the by-products of industrial processes. According to Karliner (1997), "roughly two-thirds of all hazardous waste produced in the United States comes from chemical manufacturing" (p. 16). Toxic wastes contain chemicals used to create pesticides, synthetic fibers, plastics, pulp and paper, solvents, and household and consumer products such as soaps, shampo...