Posted on 10/18/2008 7:41:36 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
McALLEN — From Brownsville to San Diego, if the Mexican border region were a separate state, it would rank dead last in all things health-related.
The statement, by Frank Cantu of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, took no one by surprise at the “Beyond Translation” forum Thursday. Attendees ranging from state health officials to activists clamoring for awareness of toxins and disease on both sides of the border were eager for their opportunity to network and say what they feel needs to be done.
Miguel Flores, director of water quality protection for the Environmental Protection Agency in Dallas, said the forum at the Texas A&M Health Science Center was the latest the EPA has hosted to reach out to heavily Hispanic communities. Similar forums have been held in San Antonio, Houston and Hispanic areas elsewhere in the nation.
“We're concerned. We ask the question: ‘Are we relevant to the Hispanic community?' And if we're not, we really have a problem,” he said.
Through Border 2012, a binational initiative that extends the length of the border and 63 miles inland, officials have made inroads in water and waste treatment and keeping outbreaks of pest-borne diseases like dengue fever at bay.
But the region's death rate from hepatitis is soaring, and lack of access to health care means asthmatic children may get their only treatment in hospital emergency rooms. Basic health-care education remains an obstacle.
“The biggest challenge we have is to create a culture of environmental awareness,” said Dr. Brian Smith, regional director for the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Children have been poisoned from lead in old cooking pots and floor tiles as well as popular Mexican candies. The No. 1 source of poisoning is household ant and roach killers. Sodas full of corn syrup and snack foods full of saturated fat remain dietary staples, Smith said.
Some activists said they have been trying for years without success to get EPA's attention.
Leonel Lopez, a community activist in Corpus Christi, said the government has refused to recognize that unincorporated shantytowns known as colonias exist far beyond the geographic border and need the same attention to prevent diseases.
This is what happens when you allow an endless invasion of Third World peons enter your country and take up residence. The border region is NEVER going to achieve the same standards as the rest of our country because its supply of the poor and ignorant is continually replenished, regardless of how much money Texas and the federal government throw at it. The only way this will ever be improved is if we can manage to secure our southern border. But many of those who live there, and who are in charge of public policy, have not figured that out yet.
BINGO!!!!!
Maybe if they would have spent their time and money cleaning up the mess, they would have actually got something done.
It all sounds more like an excuse being taken advantage of by the bipartisan CFR/OBL to keep the borders OPEN, rather than to close them. I’m sure that they will say that in order to effectively (and compassionately) treat the water & pollution & diseases that come with...on both sides of the border.... the border must remain open.
If 9/11 didn’t cause our leadership to have the border EFFECTIVELY secured on 9/12, nothing will, including Juan McCain.
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