La fábrica en el territorio. La industria química en la zona conurbada de la Ciudad de México

Abstract

A methodological approach for the qualitative assessment of the potential chemical health risk due to activities of chemical industrial plants located in specific territories is proposed. This paper contributes to the identification of sites for etiological studies and offers some suggestions to allow the focus of theses studies. A group of 112 chemical plants, located in 18 municipalities of the Valley of Mexico were studied. Potential health risks in these areas were evaluated with two main criteria: Potential chemical risk (concentration of chemical plants on the specific territory) and, concentration of intermediate and/or final chemical products. These chemical products were classified in six groups on the basis of their potential health effects: group 1 systemic effects (including renal, hepatic, digestive, haematologic, carcinogenic); group 2 respiratory effects; group 3 skin and/or mucosae effects; group 4 neurotoxicity effects; group 5 effects on reproductive functions, and group 6 teratogenic and/or embriotoxic effects. It was possible to identify three subgroups qualified as very high (labeled permanent enviromental emergency zones") high and low "risk municipalities depending on exposure of the population to potential hazards. According to the results, production and/or handling of highly pollutant substances and compounds become a serious public health and environmental problem which must be a priority at al1 government levels and of interest to research groups.