pen hazardous waste disposal facilities. Hazardous waste imports into the United States in 1997 (the last year for which data is available) are higher than in 1993 - or than in any time in the 1990's - and have increased 50% since 1996 alone. This increase heightens the risk of contamination due to spills during transport. Indeed, Mexican trucks are almost twice as likely as U.S. trucks to be forced out of service for failing inspections.Beginning in early 1999, each day twenty-five million gallons of "treated," but still toxic Mexican sewage was scheduled to be discharged off Imperial Beach, California. With "treated" sewage dumped into 100' deep water only a few miles from the shore, testing conducted by the U.S. EPA has determined that it will fail to meet acute toxicity limits of the U.S. Clean Water Act.Besides clean water, clean air continues to pose serious problems. The U.S.-Mexico border is clogged with record levels of truck traffic as imports surge into the U.S. from Mexico. Traffic through Texas has increased 19% since 1994, to a level of 17,582 trucks per day. Since NAFTA was enacted, the number of trucks crossing California's San Diego Otay Mesa border has more than doubled, from 450,000 to 1,000,000. The EPA has suggested that border-area residents are exposed to health-threatening levels of air pollutants, including carbon monoxide [particulate], and now the following border areas exceed ambient air quality standards: El Paso, TX; Dona Ana County, NM; Imperial County, CA; San Diego, CA; Douglas, AZ; and Yuma, AZ.These health concerns and new issues related to food safety raised during the 1993 NAFTA debate were dismissed with promises of improved practices in Mexico and better border inspection. Yet NAFTA and its implementing bill weakened existing food safety standards, for instance allowing meat and poultry imports that did not meet U.S. safety standards, and specifically limited border inspection. Under NAFTA, the U.S...
