Ecobreves – NORTH AMERICA: NAFTA 'Pollutes Little'

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MEXICO CITY, Jan 6 2003 (IPS) - The launch of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 worsened pollution in the border areas of Mexico and the United States and among some specific industries, but did not produce the environmental disaster that some critics had predicted. A report from NAFTA's Environmental Commission maintains that since the treaty took effect the petroleum and metal industries and the transportation manufacturers reduced their contaminating emissions.

However, along the border areas, air pollution worsened due to the fact that road infrastructure did not expand at the same rate as cargo transport, says the Commission.

When Mexico, United States and Canada were negotiating the treaty, environmentalists and trade unionists warned that it would bring new environmental problems and aggravate existing pollution in North America, but the NAFTA Commission asserts that this has not occurred.