valve regulated lead acid battery Lead From Old U.S. Batteries Sent to Mexico Raises Risks

Elizabeth Rosenthal
Naucalpan de JUÁREZ, Mexico-
The used batteries used by Americans for recycling are increasingly being sent to Mexico, where their lead is usually extracted by illegal crude methods in the United States, expose factory workers and local residents to dangerous levels of toxic metals.
The increase in battery flow is due to the standard of lead pollution by strict new environmental protection agencies, which makes domestic recycling more difficult and expensive, however, do not prohibit companies from exporting jobs and hazards to countries with low standards and lax enforcement.
Mexican environmental officials acknowledge their lack of financial, human and technical capacity to quickly regulate
Now, more and more industries are operating in many parts of Mexico, usually 30 miles northwest of Mexico City.
Batteries are imported or smuggled through official channels to meet the growing demand for lead, which used to be cheap and easy to buy, but is now in short supply globally.
Lead batteries are critical to the development of mobile phone networks, solar cell arrays and China's auto market, and demand for lead has increased tenfold over the past decade.
According to the New York Times analysis of trade statistics, about 20% of used cars and industrial batteries in the United States were exported to Mexico, up from 6% in 2007.
According to U. S. trade statistics, about 20 million such batteries will cross the border this year, which does not take into account metal scrap that is mislabeled or batteries that are smuggled in for the second time. hand goods.
More than 60 18-September-
Trade records show that tricycles filled with old batteries cross the border every day.
Up to 40 pounds of lead has been used in advertising, which can lead to high blood pressure, kidney damage and abdominal pain in adults, severe developmental delays and behavioral problems in young children, as it interferes with the development of the nervous system.
When the battery is damaged due to recycling, lead is released as dust and during melting, lead is released as leadEmissions.
Lead battery recyclers in the United States are now operating in sealed, highly mechanized plants --
Like dangerous bacteria in a lab.
Their chimney is equipped with a scrubber surrounded by lead
Monitoring equipment.
But for the most part of the past decade, in the huge Industrial Mondelo recycling compound here, people waved their hammers to remove the batteries, and their lead melted in the furnace where the chimney leads to the outside air, there, lead particles can settle anywhere from school to food carts.
Officials at the plant were quoted and fined more than a dozen times for lead emissions and improper storage of hazardous materials, and they did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The recycling plant has put children nearby at risk of severe lead exposure, said Marisa Jacott, director of the Mexico City environmental group Fronteras Comunes. Ms.
Jacott wanted to test young residents living near the factory but lacked funds.
The town's primary school is located on the same block as the recycling plant, which recently transferred most of its business to a larger facility elsewhere.
Lead pollution has remained for decades.
Soil samples collected by The Times on campus showed that lead content was 2,000, five times the limit on children's play areas set by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
In most states, this will be treated as a "significant environmental lead hazard" that requires immediate remediation, such as covering the area with concrete or treating the soil.
"If we export, we should only send batteries to countries where standards are as strict as ours, and in Mexico, that's not the case," said Perry Gottesfeld . " San Francisco is the executive director of the group "professional knowledge International", which is committed to reducing lead exposure.
On one border, two standards while Mexico does have some regulations for smelting and recycling lead, the law is not well enforced and even licensed factories are allowed to release about 20 times as much lead as similar in the United States, said sir.
Goldfield, who studied export trade.
Some American companies that recycle in Mexico say they have exceeded Mexico's requirements and they intend to bring their Mexican factories to the standards of the United States.
But there is no way to ensure this happens. The E. P. A.
The company said, "there will be no inspection, monitoring or verification of facilities in Mexico.
"That's why doctors and teachers in Mexico ask for testing in a country where there are few or no tests.
In her community clinic on the outskirts of Guadalajara
Lourde Pérez Ramrez says she often sees children with severe developmental lag, and she is sure lead poisoning at a nearby recycling plant may work, although she is unable to prove it because no research has been done
"I think lead is in danger, but you have to look at it to find it," she said.
You have to see!
Although lead batteries have long been classified as hazardous wasteP. A.
It was only last year that American companies began demanding export reports.
But even the simplest system will not be able to achieve the agency's goal of safer recycling.
Exporters must estimate how many batteries they intend to transfer abroad in the coming year and specify the receiving plant.
These files were sent to E. Semarnat, MexicoP. A.
Responsible for the acceptance or rejection of the shipment.
Semarnat never refused at 2010.
Then every March, American companies should count how many batteries are actually sent, but only 3 of the 10 exporters this year comply. The E. P. A.
Refusing to speak publicly about export trade, it explained in a statement that its role was "limited to the paperwork of dealing with" the new battery tracking system.
Many people familiar with the industry say more needs to be done.
Robert Finn said: "We are transporting hazardous waste to a neighbor who is not capable of handling hazardous waste, and we are dealing with it legally, turning our heads and pretending that this is not a problem, chief executive of Dallas RSR
Lead recyclers based in the United States, operating only in the United States, are worried about the loss of raw materials to Mexico.
Sergio Herrera, deputy director of industrial inspection, a legal body that regulates environmental compliance in Mexico, said regulation of the battery trade was "an important priority", however, much of the early efforts to control it have exposed the magnitude of the task.
A recent government survey found that 19 out of 20 recycling plants did not have the appropriate authorization to import hazardous waste, including batteries.
A retrospective review of the truck list showed that 142 batches of illegal goods contained millions of used car batteries not detected at the border.
Acumuladores de Jalisco, a doctor near the recycling plant.
Pirarez Ramírez's clinic operates without proper authorization to recycle imported products, when it was last checked in 2006, found it was not even stored for "1 out of 5 hazardous waste
However, there is no record of any penalty and no follow-up recordup, which Mr.
Herrera said "it was a defect that we did not verify our procedures.
"The Recycler did not respond to repeated requests for interviews.
Advertising on the border, the focus of the US vigilance is on drugs and illegal immigration, and the Customs and Border Protection agency has made little effort to stop this flow, "mainly imported, said Erlinda Byrd, spokesman for the agency, although she noted that some spot checks had been conducted on illegal waste exports.
This year, the Mexican government has trained more than 200 border agents to better detect illegally transported batteries and other electronic waste.
But most illegal activities are discovered by chance. P. A.
The company recently launched an investigation into three cases of illegal export of batteries, the first such case.
Agency officials say all of this stems from tips, usually from American companies trying to operate within government rules.
In Mexico, a truck from Texas was detained in October when a border agent found it dripping sour.
It is equipped with 1,800 used batteries.
Documents on the truck showed it was heading to a licensed recycler, but the driver told the police that he really took it elsewhere.
Another case involved 22 persons.
5 tons of batteries from Texas, the lead of which has been resold to buyers in China.
According to government trade statistics, lead shipments from Mexico to China nearly tripled in three years, with an estimated $0. 15 billion in 2011.
Since 2007, mining lead production in Mexico has only risen at its lowest level.
Chronic lead poisoning in children is difficult to diagnose because symptoms are fairly common, including low I. Q.
Focus on issues.
If there is no blood test result, it is impossible to make a clear diagnosis.
Few laboratories in Mexico offer lead testing and costsabout $100 —
It is beyond the reach of poor families.
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Last year, Mariel Landeros had a seizure in the first few months of her life, and her family was concerned about her battery recycling across from her home in Naucalpan de Juárez
Industrial Mondelo has been recycling batteries for nearly a decade, but production has increased many times over the past few years.
"They started with a rotten fog in the town," said Mariel's aunt Irma Landeros Aguirre . ".
She is increasingly worried about her 16-year-old daughter, Krystell, who has nosebleeds and stomach pains and has been behind her peers for years at school.
Krystell was examined and she took a series of drugs to control her behavior.
But she never had a blood test of lead.
As a result, the family visited the National Institute of Pediatrics in Mexico City when the baby had serious neurological problems.
Mariel's first test came back at 18.
When she was 2 months old, she contained 4 micrograms of lead per liter of blood, much higher than what doctors thought was safe for children.
This level has risen to 24 in four months. 8.
The doctor prescribed a powerful medicine to secure lead in her body so that her kidneys could remove it.
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "lead levels of 10 micrograms in children's blood can lead to decreased intelligence, reading and learning disabilities, hearing impairment, distraction, ADHD and decreased anti-social behavior.
"An advisory task force in the United States recommended that children under 5 micrograms be remedied.
It is difficult to prove that lead battery recycling is the culprit in any poisoning case, as there are other sources of lead exposure such as lead
Mainly paint or ceramic pottery.
But experts say recycling crude oil batteries near where people live is a terrible combination.
Outside Acumuladores de Jalisco, a recycler on the edge of Guadalajara, El-sko-
The dirty brick wall of the factory is surrounded by an aerial restaurant and a farmer's market.
Fruit and vegetables were piled up on the crate, and the children were playing on the ground.
In a sample of dirt tested by an accredited laboratory in the United States, lead content is 485, which is unsafe for the game area, not to mention food treatment.
The American automotive battery industry likes to brag about its highest recovery rate for any product --
97% of lead recovered
Most states have laws that require stores to take back old batteries.
Whether it is stored in the store where the old batteries are purchased, or in the local mechanic, the old batteries are redirected to the recycling plant, the real goal is not environmental management, but to extract valuable lead, this is the gold of the protein trading system that cannot be traced back.
The source of any one battery is hard to determine because of big stores like AutoZone and Wal
Mart puts its own brand name on batteries that various companies may produce.
Similarly, some large battery manufacturers like Johnson Controls and Exide Technologies have taken back their batteries and run some recycling plants on their own.
But they sometimes send batteries to external recyclers and buy lead as batteries from these external recyclers-
Do operations.
At some point in their existence, many old batteries were sold to middlemen who shipped or sold them to the cheapest processors --
In Mexico, despite the increasing cost of transportation
Therefore, leads can be reused or resold.
Over the past year, the price of lead scrap sold on trading sites ranges from 25 cents per pound to 40 cents, up from 5 cents per pound a decade ago.
The lower the cost of extracting lead, the greater the profit
Experts say this is a reality that encourages smuggling and also contributes to the black market for batteries.
The booming car battery recycling business in Mexico has led to an increasing number of lead poisoning cases.
Federico Magarini, a researcher at the United Nations University who tried to quantify the illegal lead trade, said that batteries were ideal for smuggling because-
Unlike bulky refrigerators or computer monitors
They are compact and contain lead.
"If you want to make a lot of money, you can break the plastic, throw the acid wherever you want, and then sell the lead at a high price," he said . ".
However, with the increase in lead battery exports, many American recyclers, especially the smaller recyclers, have said that their used batteries are only enough to change one shift a day, so they are layoffs.
"Our industry is built on the ability to keep this material here," said Bruce Cole, executive vice president of strategy and business development for Exide, the largest manufacturer and
Advertising has been affected by the recession, and U. S. recyclers are now at the expense of tougher regulation. The E. P. A.
In the past three years, the allowable lead levels in chimney emissions and ambient air have been reduced by an alarming amount, as there is a growing recognition of the devastating effects of even low levels of lead on health.
U. S. recyclers estimate compliance costs of $20 million for a typical plant.
The company was forced to make tough decisions.
Exide has five recycling plants in the United States, and according to him there is no recycling in Mexico.
"Bypassing the regulations" is not in our interest, "Cole said ".
"Some battery brokers have started shipping their goods to independent smelters south of the border, not to factories in the United States.
Johnson Control in Milwaukee
Mexico-based battery giants used trucks to transport thousands of used batteries to their recycling plants last year. P. A. export notices.
The company operates a licensed recycling plant in Mexico and is completing the construction of a second plant;
It also built a new recycling plant in South Carolina.
Alex molinoli, a senior manager at Johnson Control, said its factory in Mexico far exceeded the country's regulatory standards, and will be upgraded to a new US standard factory after full entry into force on 2013.
"We don't have Mexican standards, and we don't have American standards. S.
Standard or German standard, "he said.
"We have a global standard that today is driven by e-commerce. P. A.
Although Johnson Control has won praise from Europe. P. A.
In terms of environmental innovation in the United States, its recycling plant in Mexico does not face the same regulatory review.
Working in dark Mexico does have some regulations on lead exposure, and many factories employ doctors to monitor lead in the worker's blood.
But the results were not made public or even disclosed to the worker himself.
If levels pick up, employees will be sent home for a few days and take painkillers to relieve bone pain that usually accompanies lead poisoning in adults, she said
Jacott of flounas comunes spent two years interviewing workers.
There is no requirement to monitor lead levels other than the factory.
Residents living near the Jalisco Acumuladores de jalplant plant said the government told them that groundwater was contaminated with lead and that they eliminated the disease they thought was exposed to lead.
The wife of a worker said that the man who removed the battery ended every shift in their work and had to take a shower and change clothes before leaving, he said the doctors in the factory took good care of these people.
"Anyway," she said, "there's not a lot of other work here.
"Environmental advocates and Domestic recyclers say the United States has a responsibility to ensure that its old batteries do not become a health problem in Mexico.
Some say a system is needed to check foreign recyclers so that they can meet the US standards.
But an organization, a tablet watchdog, called for companies like Wal-Mart. Mart —
It has a large share of the battery in the United States and is proud of its environmental operation --
Make sure their batteries are recycled at home.
A spokesman said the company's used batteries are now handed over to Johnson control.
The company that sent the most batteries to Mexico last year.
An article in December.
9 regarding the exposure of Mexican workers to toxic lead in used batteries, the unit of measurement estimated for Mexico's lead exports to China this year was incorrectly stated.
According to government trade statistics, total exports are estimated at $0. 15 billion, not 0. 15 billion tons. Andrew W.
Lehren contributed reports from New York and Karla Zabludovsky from Mexico City.
David Agren from Guadalajara, Mexico, participated in the study.
A version of this article was printed on page A1 of the New York edition on December 9, 2011 with the title: used batteries in the United StatesS.
Putting Mexicans at risk.
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