As Children Return to School, Mexico Must Pass Regulations for Cleaner Air Amanda Maxwell - Switchboard
go to original January 10, 2014

Children all across Mexico are returning to school this week after the excitement of the holidays. As they head back to their classrooms, kids in Mexico City will also, unfortunately, be again exposed to a danger they are not aware of: toxic air pollution from our city’s dirty vehicles and fuels.

International studies have shown that the impacts of air pollution get worse as you get closer to heavily-traveled roads, and that children are far more susceptible to the health risks of air pollution than adults. Diesel pollution, in particular, is one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution. This means that the thousands of children going back to school this week will be exposed every day to toxic exhaust from the Distrito Federal’s congested roads.

The good news is that this threat to our children is entirely avoidable. By cleaning up our diesel fuels, we can dramatically reduce the amount of hazardous air pollution filling our streets. The government has said that it would propose a regulation to do just that by the end of 2013, but we are still waiting. It is time for all of us to demand that the government stand by its word and take action, so that children in the D.F. - indeed, in all of Mexico - can go to school without breathing toxic fumes.

Read the rest at Switchboard

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