Revealed: Mexico's industrial boomtown is making goods for the US. Residents say they're breathing poison'

"The polluting facilities in Monterrey include factories that are operated by companies from around the world including the US, Europe, Asia and Mexico but export largely to the US. And the facilities are pumping more toxic heavy metals into the city's air than the totals reported in many US states, the analysis finds for the first time, as well as more earth-warming carbon dioxide than nearly half the nations in the world."

"On a daily basis, residents here live with about twice the levels of fine particulate air pollution as those in Los Angeles, which has long been the most polluted major metro in the US. And on bad days, the area sometimes has among the worst pollution levels in the world. Air pollution in Mexico's largest metros have largely stayed high, while pollution in US metros has declined. Long-term exposure to this kind of air pollution has been linked to thousands of deaths per year in the area."

A manufacturing boom around Monterrey has created an industrial hub whose factories, many operated by multinational companies and largely exporting to the US, emit toxic heavy metals and large volumes of CO2. Emissions from these facilities exceed totals reported in many US states and rival those of entire nations. Monterrey, a metro of 5.3 million about 150 miles from the Texas border, has the region's worst fine-particulate pollution, with daily PM levels roughly double those in Los Angeles and episodic days among the worst worldwide. Persistent high pollution has been linked to thousands of deaths annually and has provoked local protests demanding government action.

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