“El Chernobil Salvadoreño” (The Salvadoran Chernobyl)

prosperity at what cost? All to often the reason to relocate a business is the economics of pollution controls.

"In 2007, more than 40 children had to leave the school Centro Escolar Comunidad Rural in Sitio del Niño, San Juan Opico. Their lead levels were over 30 micrograms per deciliter. Anything over 10 is toxic."

"The story of Record Battery and its contamination of El Salvador is a story of Free Trade. This company was granted license to accept the waste of other, more industrialized nations and convert it to economic value. In the United States, it is very difficult to site a battery recycling facility. It is very expensive to operate, under the regulations of OSHA, the EPA, the various State agencies and citizens’ groups that would be monitoring the operation of a plant, if you could get it approved. In El Salvador, the Lacayo family, with its political and social connections, had no problems finding a place to start a lead recycling operation, and no problems operating one. They are also able to walk away with their accumulated profits, winners in the game of global networking. They are winners because they have walked away with their money, with their lives, and without consequence."

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/el-salvador-in-the-months-before-t...