Marcos A. Orellana, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxic substances and human rights, expressed his concern about the proliferation of sacrifice zones in Mexico and noted that, to date, 50 sites of environmental and health emergency have been identified, according to data presented by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) in 2021.
“This limited number of places, with names and details, reflects a much broader situation where, thanks to efforts supported by CONACYT, more than 50 areas requiring immediate attention have been identified, because sacrifice zones represent not only the environment sacrificed for the sake of industrial expansion but also the rights of people,” Orellana explained to Animal Político.
The rapporteur mentioned that his mission closing statement will include the cases of several of these sacrifice sites he visited during his trip to Mexico, such as Tula, in the state of Hidalgo; The Lerma-Santiago River in the State of Mexico and the Upper Atoyac River in Tlaxcala.
The Observatory of Sacrifice Zones in Mexico, a collective project promoted by the organization Climate Connections, describes sacrifice zones as damaged places. These can include extraction sites, valued for their ‘wasted potential,’ or waste concentration sites such as landfills. These sites often bear a disproportionate burden of environmental damage, including pollution, toxicity, and heavy industry.
Orellana explained that prior to his visit, he received 42 written contributions from communities and organizations in 20 states. Furthermore, during his ten-day visit—from March 9th to 19th—he gained firsthand knowledge of the situation in communities in the states of Campeche, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Querétaro, Sonora, Tlaxcala, and Yucatán.
In his preliminary conclusions, the UN Special Rapporteur listed activities such as agriculture, mining, and hydrocarbon production that generate a significant amount of hazardous waste for the environment and people.
Orellana also announced that he will present his full observations in the complete report on his visit to Mexico to the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2026.
RAPPORTEUR URGES MEXICO TO ENACT A CHEMICALS LAW
The UN Special Rapporteur also noted the lack of a chemical substances law in Mexico, as well as a law on highly hazardous pesticides. “It is urgent that the State guarantee compliance with existing laws and establish clear cooperation mechanisms at the municipal, state, and federal levels, especially between health and environmental authorities,” he stated.
The rapporteur also emphasized that “Mexico has demonstrated crucial leadership internationally on issues of toxic substances and human rights, but it should address the gap between this global leadership and the challenges the country faces domestically.”
According to the UN, toxic or hazardous substances are those that result from human activity and affect multiple aspects of daily life. These substances are often found in the food people eat, the air they breathe, the water they drink, their workplaces, and their homes.
Exposure to these harmful products is linked to various forms of cancer, reproductive abnormalities, lung diseases, diabetes, and learning disabilities, among other health repercussions.
The challenges the rapporteur referred to, and about which he expressed concern, include the proliferation of sacrifice zones. An example of a sacrifice zone identified in Mexico is the pollution present in the Santiago River, one of the most polluted waterways due to the discharge of toxic waste from some 250 industries and businesses located along its banks.
According to a publication by the Western Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESO), the pollution of the Santiago River has caused serious health problems in the local population, including kidney disease and cancer.
The publication also considered it “encouraging” that the Mexican government recognizes this problem and has decided to address it by establishing Sanitary and Environmental Emergency Regions.
Environmental Emergency Regions are areas identified by their severe environmental degradation and high rates of disease in the population caused by the concentration of industrial, agricultural, and urban activities.
This recognition, the UN Special Rapporteur urged, should lead to concrete policies and actions to address emergencies, “including environmental justice plans.”
Among the first observations he presented, he mentioned pollution problems such as: the environmental degradation of rivers, oil spills, and the management of waste and plastic pollution, among others.
WATER POLLUTION AND SACRIFICE ZONES
The UN Special Rapporteur directly witnessed the pollution of water bodies and the elimination of Environmental Emergency Regions, also known as “environmental hells,” that is, areas of health and environmental emergency where people cannot plant crops or fish due to extreme pollution in the water, soil, and air.
In Mexico, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) has identified six regions of environmental emergency: El Salto-Juanacatlán, Jalisco; Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato; Atitalaquia-Atotonilco-Apaxco, Hidalgo; the Atoyac and Zahuapan Rivers in Puebla and Tlaxcala; and the Northern Isthmus and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.
Another case of concern is the ongoing pollution of the Sonora River caused by a massive spill of acid leachate in 2014 from the facilities of the Buenavista del Cobre mining company, owned by Grupo México.
FOSSIL FUELS AND OIL SPILLS
In his preliminary report, Orellana also referred to oil spills in the country that threaten food security, ecosystems, and the livelihoods of communities. He recalled that in the days leading up to and during his visit to Mexico, a spill occurred that affected communities and ecosystems between Pajapan, Veracruz, and Paraíso, Tabasco, as well as a fire at the Dos Bocas Refinery in Tabasco, in which five people died.
“Regarding this project, I received information that the communities were not properly informed at the time of its installation. This situation has intensified the exposure of urban populations to hazardous substances and toxic pollutants, including benzene and dioxins, released through the combustion of fossil fuels, open burning of waste, biomass burning, uncontrolled open dumps, and landfill fires,” the rapporteur added.
THE NEW LAW ON CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND WASTE MANAGEMENT
Finally, Marcos A. Orellana acknowledged the progress represented by the new General Law on Circular Economy, which establishes the foundations for waste management and defines which wastes are considered hazardous. It also mandates that authorities create an information system related to the generation and comprehensive management of hazardous, municipal solid, and special handling waste, as well as contaminated and remediated sites.
However, he warned that this legislation also restricts practices such as incineration and co-processing of waste.
In addition, there is the presence of uncontrolled dumpsites that fail to guarantee that waste will not be mixed or will be properly sorted, whether it is municipal solid, special handling, or hazardous waste.
He highlighted that in the new General Law on Circular Economy, the Mexican government recognizes the work of recyclers who work in uncontrolled sites such as open dumps and landfills, where people in this sector are particularly exposed to hazardous chemicals.
The UN Special Rapporteur also mentioned the work of collectives and civil society organizations, such as El Poder del Consumidor (The Power of the Consumer), Acción Ecológica (Ecological Action), Fronteras Comunes (Common Borders), No Es Basura (It’s Not Trash), Asociación Ecológica Santo Tomás (Santo Tomás Ecological Association), and Greenpeace Mexico, which filed an injunction that resulted in an important ruling recognizing the Legislative Branch’s failure to prohibit single-use plastics.
“I would like to encourage the Chamber of Deputies to continue its efforts to comply with the aforementioned ruling, as well as other efforts at the state level to establish a clear ban on these plastics,” he added. Furthermore, he said that “Mexico has increased the import of waste in recent years under the somewhat euphemistic label of co-processing, this waste is burned as cheap fuel for industry, this situation externalizes the real environmental and health costs.”
Original article by Verónica Santamaría, Animal Pólitico, March 22nd, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.