Pachuca.- With more than 35 documented cases of cancer, serious environmental deterioration where trees have lost their green color, to dress in gray by the dust of cement, Atotonilco de Tula, in Hidalgo, commemorates the World Environment Day.
This municipality is located in the south of Hidalgo, adjacent to Tula, but also with Apaxco at Mexico state. In its 31 square kilometers of extension is surrounded by five cement companies: Cemex, Fortaleza (with two floors), Cruz Azul and Holcim Apasco; besides the lime Bertran, El Tigre and Apasco.
Its neighbor Apaxco has settled at least 60 marmoleras, but as in Atotonilco the winds are not favorable, all the dust and pollution generated by these companies stays there. Tomi Hernández is a member of the Angels Association, an environmental organization, and says that for years they have struggled to make the problem visible and that the authorities turn to the region, but they have not achieved it.
On the issue of health, he said, there is concern because there are serious problems that citizens consider are related to the deterioration of the environment; but nevertheless, the authorities have not delivered any study that affirms or denies this problem.
Some of the work must be done by the inhabitants
At the request that the Health Secretary perform studies to know if diseases such as cancer, kidney failure or respiratory diseases are a result of pollution, the institution asked the inhabitants to take a census to take them studies of spirometry and know respiratory pathologies.
But neither in this case, nor in the serious health problems, there is an adequate response, which is why families have to take care of the expenses that cause these damages.
For spirometry, said the specialist, the Ministry of Health asked for the census with the number of patients and names of people to be able to take the equipment. The environmental deterioration by the powders of cement and marble and cerofino crushers, he says, could be the cause of this type of diseases, which could also affect the lungs.
“There is too much cancer disease, companies say no, but we know it is because of contamination,” he claims. In this regard, he points out that when the dependency issues the death certificate, it affirms that the cause of death of the person is due to other reasons, Unrelated to pollution, as cardiac arrests.
“There is a case that they say died of a heart attack, but they do not do the analysis that was due to cancer or kidneys.
“There is no analysis beyond issuing the death certificate, where the primary disease is not registered,” he explains.
He says it will be in two months when the inhabitants of that place can deliver to the sanitary authorities the census that they themselves have started, this to know if they can be beneficiaries of the studies.
For its part, Roberto Escamilla, from the environmental association “Loving Nature”, precise that “If you get to Atotonilco in the day you can see the trees that are gray, here the plants are not green.” He adds that In addition to the dust generated by cement plants, There is also pollution from the burning of tires that are used for cement processes.
He stated that in this case there is a closure to Strength by the Ministry of the Environment, which has broken the company that burn tires at night.
He even said that a complaint was filed because workers from the cement company withdrew the seals of closure, a situation that on World Environment Day is serious in this area of the State, they said.
The Ministry of the Environment confirmed the closure of a tire deposit for Fortaleza and said that several monitoring has been carried out to see that this provision is complied with.
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