Frontera NorteSur Apr- Jun 2008

Vaccines Across Borders

Immunizing border residents of the Americas, including the US-Mexico border region,  will be a focus of the of this year’s Vaccination Week in the Americas sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Scheduled to kick off on Saturday, April 19, the week-long  immunization drive is expected to draw tens of thousands of volunteers from 44 countries.  According to a press statement from PAHO, the goal for 2008 is to vaccinate 62 million children, adult and elderly persons in order to prevent deaths and illnesses from measles, polio, rotovirus and other diseases.

“We are consolidating a true participatory culture for prevention throughout the
Anericas,” said PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses.

Mass vaccinations are planned for the border regions of Mexico-Guatemala, Honduras-Nicaragua, Brazil-Guyana and Colombia-Brazil, among other places. In the Paso del Norte area of Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua, PAHO Director Dr. Roses is scheduled to participate in a caravan that will depart from Sunland Park, New Mexico, for El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. Other high Mexican and US healthcare officials are  invited to the local event.  

Now in its sixth year, Vaccination Week in the Americas has distributed  vaccines to more than 195 million people in 45 countiries and territories, according to the PAHO.

“Despite its growth as an internacional phenomenon, the initiative has remained focused on the orginal goal of reaching the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities and indigenous groups, people living in border areas, and geographically isolated communities, which are often  left  behind in nacional immunization campaigns,” the group said.

Founded in 1902, the PAHO defines its mission as improving heathcare in all the countries of the Americas. Regionally, the organization serves as the Americas office of the  World Health Organization.

Carlos Slim’s  Medical Maquiladoras

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is moving ahead with his plans to open hospitals in Mexico that cater to US baby boomers.  Slim’s business concept might be compared to a maquiladora export factory.  A raw product, in this case an ailing US citizen, is imported into Mexico, “put together” and then re-exported back to the home country. Ironically,  Slim’s fortune, now estimated to be larger than Bill Gates’, derives in part from the tycoon’s Marlboro cigarette business in Mexico.    

In partnership with Grupo Star Medica, Slim’s Ideal company intends to open new medical centers in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, and in Los Cabos on the Baja Peninsula.  A national hospital chain,  Grupo Star Medica is a fast-growing business with expansion plans in Ciudad Juarez and additional Mexican cities. In 2007, Ideal purchased 49 percent of Grupo Star Medica’s stock. Specializing in construction and development, Ideal has agreed to help Grupo Star Medica with infrastructure, acquisition and financing.

With its planned medical centers in Puerto Penasco and Los Cabos, Grupo Star Medica plans to tap into a new market segment of US baby boomers who are buying second homes in Mexico. Reportedly, sales of vacation homes in Los Cabos and Puerto Penasco increased 30 percent and 45 percent, respectively, during the last three years. 

Claudia Velazquez, an analyst for the Softec real estate market analysis firm, said the relative lack of medical services in beach resorts attractive to US vacationers and expatriates is opening up business opportunities for companies like Grupo Star Medica.

“(Baby boomers) are also choosing Mexico because its health system is much cheaper than in the United States,” Velazquez said.

Besides Slim, other Mexico-based entrepreneurs are seriously looking at the growing population of US baby boomers who need health care services. Their plan is to get US private insurance companies to pay for medical treatment in Mexico.

“For a US insurance policy to pay for medical treatment, the treatment has to comply with certain quality control standards, and we are going to participate with products to serve this niche,” said Jaime Jimenez, general director for Mexico Trane, another company on the same path as Slim. Of course, it remains to be seen if the expansion of medical services in Mexico to US residents will help lower private insurance premiums in this country.

Sources: Tribuna de la Bahia/Agencia Reforma, February 26, 2008. Article by Karla Ramirez. Biznews.com.mx, July 9, 2007. Ideal.com.mx.

Diabetes on the Border

For the first time, the United Nations will commemorate World Diabetes Day on Wednesday, November 14. On the US-Mexico border, health officials warn that diabetes is increasingly jeopardizing the health of the population. A new study by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reports that 1.1 million border residents in both Mexico and the US suffer from type 2 diabetes, with about 22 percent of the victims in the dark about their disease.

"It is a serious problem when nearly a quarter of border residents who have diabetes do not know their health status," said Dr. Maria Teresa Cerquiera of PAHO's US-Mexico Border Office in El Paso, Texas. 

Additionally, the recent PAHO study classified 836,000 people as pre-diabetic. PAHO found that 90 percent of border residents with diabetes were overweight or obese. Health experts rate the disease as the leading cause of death in Mexico and the third-leading cause of death among US border residents. "Mexico appears to be shouldering a bigger share of the burden from the disease," said Luis Escobedo of the Texas Department of Health.

Latino populations in the US are hard hit by diabetes. "We've observed that in the Hispanic community, 20 percent of adolescents develop the disease," said Suzanne Gebbhart, a physician with the La Familia Medical Center of Santa Fe, New Mexico. "This is an alarming percentage because type 2  diabetes used to be called an adult disease, but we are now seeing it in children and this has a great impact on their future."

As part of World Diabetes Day activities, La Familia Medical Center will sponsor a public forum. Other US cities with large Latino populations participating in World Diabetes Day include Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and Albuquerque, among others. US Groups endorsing events include the International Diabetes Federation, the American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

In Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexican public health authorities say they will offer free diabetes screening tests to the public on November 14. “It’s very important for the public to get an exam done at the closest health facility, because prevention is the best method of fighting this ailment,” said Hector Puertas, director of Ciudad Juarez’s health district.

On the hemispheric level, PAHO is launching a new campaign to combat diabetes and other chronic diseases. The international health promotion organization estimates the number of people with diabetes in the Americas will jump from 35 million in 2000 to 64 million in 2025. "This situation is not economically sustainable, even for well off countries, but the good news is most of it is preventable through comprehensive action," said PAHO in a statement.  

Sources: El Diario de Juarez, November 13, 2007. Article by Ramon Chaparro. La Voz de Nuevo Mexico, November 9, 2007. Article by Norma Moreno. PAHO.org, October 31 and November 6, 2007. Press releases. Worlddiabetesday.org, November 5, 2007. Press release.  Norte, November 1, 2007.    

Mosquito Menace on the Border

Once again, mosquito-borne illnesses are worrying health authorities on both sides of the Mexico-US border. In the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, the Ministry of Interior declared an emergency in the municipalities of Tampico, Altamira, Ciudad Madero, El Mante, and Gonzalez after heavy rains provoked flooding this month. Hot weather coupled with the stagnant pools of water that characterize underdeveloped communities in the region create ideal breeding conditions for the aedes aegyptus variety of mosquito, the transmitter of dengue fever.

"It will be a difficult situation," admitted state health official Fernando Garza Frausto. Insecticide sprayers in hand, government personnel fumigated sections of Tamaulipas, but some residents expressed skepticism that the eradication program would work. 

 By mid-September, the Tamaulipas State Health Ministry had tallied 400 confirmed cases of dengue and counted several hundred other suspected cases. State officials reported that hemorrhagic dengue, which is the most potentially fatal strain  of the disease, constituted 80 of the diagnosed cases, while classic dengue made up 330 of the detected cases. The authorities were most concerned about a possible dengue epidemic in the flood-ravaged southern portion of the state, but some cases were detected in the cities of Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo bordering the US. 

Dengue is on the rise in Mexico. Pablo Kuri Morales, general director of
the National Center for Epidemiological Monitoring and Disease Control,
predicted that dengue cases in 2007 will be 40 percent above 2006's figure. Kuri estimated that the total number of Mexican dengue cases could reach 28,000 this year.

In Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexican health authorities and researchers from the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez have trapped the feared aedes aegyptus mosquito but haven't found any specimens that tested positive for dengue.  

"The mosquito that transmits dengue normally proliferates in the southeast of the country," said Alvaro Valenzuela Grajeda, state health district sub-director, "but it has managed to adapt itself locally, thanks to humid conditions generated by climate change." 
 
In the Paso del Norte region of Ciudad Juarez, El Paso and southern New Mexico, mosquitoes of the culex quinque fasciatus variety that transmit the West Nile Virus have been the primary concern for the past several years. While West Nile Virus cases in the entire state of New Mexico fell from 209 (including four fatalities) in 2003 to 8 in 2006, the illness is on the increase again in 2007. A high proportion of mosquitoes trapped in southern New Mexico’s Dona Ana County have tested positive for West Nile Virus. At least 27 human cases, two of which were fatal, were reported in New Mexico through the first twelve days of September. A dozen horses have also been infected with West Nile Virus in New Mexico.

In Texas’ El Paso County, health authorities have logged 30 cases of the virus, including three fatal ones, during 2007.  In Ciudad Juarez, meanwhile, health officials identified the sprawling Anapra colonia on the New Mexico border, the Satelite neighborhood and the Juarez Valley south of the city as areas particularly vulnerable to West Nile Virus outbreaks.  While July and August are considered the peak months of activity, health officials and providers on both sides of the border are staying vigilant throughout the remaining days of warm weather.

"This alert is going to continue so we can avoid the infection of more people," said Hector Puertas Rincon, Ciudad Juarez health district director.   

Sources: El Paso Times, September 18, 2007. Article by Louie Gilot. Enlineadirecta.info, September 16, 2007. Article by Leobardo Sanchez. La Jornada, September 15, 2007. Article by Andres T. Morales and correspondents. El Diario de Juarez, September 9 and 16, 2007. Norte, September 1, 2007. Article by Herika Martinez Prado. Associated Press, September 1, 2007.  Health.state.nm.us/

Poisons Across Borders

Public health alerts on both sides of the US-Mexico border have raised new questions about food consumption habits, corporate control of the food supply and the effectiveness of binational food safety monitoring. Last week, California health officials warned consumers not to eat Mexican tamarind pulp candy bearing the De La Rosa brand after tests showed lead levels exceeding the state health standard.

Encountering lead levels of 0.12 and 0.18 parts per million in tamarind candy,  the test samples exceeded the California standard of  0.10 parts per million.

Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health  stressed that exposure to lead can lead to lifetime learning disabilities and behavioral disorders. Since 2002, California officials have issued several warnings about lead levels in spicy tamarind candy manufactured in Mexico. Imported candies include products made by subsidiaries of the Mars and Hershey companies.  

Armando Crespo, export manager for the Dulces de la Rosa y Chupaletas company, charged that public health authorities were overreacting. Only a small shipment of candies  violated the health standard, Crespo said.  His company’s products are certified by an international organization and a California laboratory before they reach the store shelves, Crespo insisted.

“What’s going on is that the lead levels established by California and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been changing a lot lately due to pressures from environmentalists,” Crespo contended.

The California candy controversy coincided with the voluntary recall of Castleberry’s Food Company’s Hot Dog Chili Sauce and other products  because of suspicions that the company’s cans contained a bacteria which causes botulism, a potentially fatal illness. 

A San Diego woman spent 10 days in the hospital this moth after consuming a batch of
Castleberry’s-manufactured Kroger Chili with Beans.  A complete list of recalled Castleberry’s products is available at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration web site.

The Castleberry’s recall prompted Mexican authorities to prohibit the importation of  80 company-made products. Luis Carlos Ortiz Marquez, chief of the State Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks in Ciudad Juarez, said that Mexican customs, marketing and retail personnel were being advised of the recall. In Ciudad Juarez, Castleberry’s products are used by popular hot dog vendors who operate carts or stands in the streets.

In addition to possible exposure to contaminated foods sold at home, Mexican consumers in border cities like Ciudad Juarez face risks from products purchased on cross-border shopping sprees to US sister cities. In El Paso,  branches of the Albertson’s and Big 8 supermarket chains reportedly tossed out recalled Castleberry’s products.

Late last week, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and other high officials toured federal facilities at the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso to hear about procedures designed to uphold the safety of food imports. President Bush has named Leavitt to head a government panel charged with guaranteeing the safety of food imports, an issue which has received wider public attention since the scandal broke over contaminated pet food imported from China earlier this year.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach  said that a greater investment of money and will is needed to keep the food supply safe. “More resources and strict control measures are needed to resolve the problem of contaminated products,” Dr. Von Eschenbach affirmed.

Sources: El Diario de Juarez,. July 25 and 29, 2007. El Paso Times, July 28, 2007. Article by Louie Gilot and the Associated Press. La Opinion (Los Angeles), July 27, 2007. Article by Araceli Martinez Ortega. San Francisco Chronicle, July 23 and 28, 2007. Articles by John Wildermuth and Erin Allday. El Universal, July 24, 2007. Article by Luis Carlos Cano. www.fda.gov

Drug Study Raises Alarm

Mexicans are stunned by the results of a new survey of illegal drug use among middle and high school students. Co-sponsored by the federal Ministry of Public Education (SEP) and the Juan Ramon de la Fuente National Institute of Psychiatry, the study reveals high levels of  adolescent drug consumption in border and other states. Based on a nationwide survey of 10,000 students from 2003 to 2006,  the results show cocaine use stabilizing but marijuana consumption increasing. Josefina Vazquez Mota, federal minister of education, called the report alarming.

Mexico City, which was ranked as a state, rated highest for overall drug consumption among middle school students, with 11.3 percent of male students and 8.6 percent of female students reporting using illegal drugs at least once. The nation´s capital city was followed in order by Sonora, Baja California, Tlaxcala and Queretaro. In Sonora, 7.2 percent of male middle school pupils reported using cocaine, while 3.2 percent of
female middle school students in Baja California admitted to smoking pot.

In the high school category, Aguascalientes earned the number one spot. Residing in a historically conservative city of about 700,000 people,  25.4 percent of male high school students and 7.5 percent of female high school students acknowledged experimenting with illegal drugs at least once. Local media report that the retail price of cocaine in Aguascalientes has dropped significantly in recent years. Trailing Aguascalientes in high school-age drug abuse were Mexico City, Queretaro, Nuevo Leon and Campeche.

The northern border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana were reportedly ranked as the individual cities with the highest rates of youth drug consumption, but no specific figures were cited for the two cities in the initial media stories about the SEP co-sponsored study. In late 2006, Alejandro Rubido Garcia, then an under-secretary for the Federal Ministry of Public Safety, predicted that one in five Mexican youths below 18 years of age will have experimented with illegal drugs by 2012.

Sources: El Sol del Centro, July 15, 2007. Article by Nadia Marin. Diario Aguas, July 14, 2007. Hidrocalido/Agencia Reforma, July 13, 2007. Article by Sonia del Valle. La Jornada, Article by Karina Aviles.

Junk Food Wars

Northern border states are among Mexican entities taking the lead in the fight against so-called junk food. Like the United States, Mexico is confronted with a growing problem of overweight and obese children. Health educators and other professionals are increasingly concerned about the link between the consumption of junk foods and ailments that include coronary troubles, hypertension and diabetes.

"This how we live in absurdity," writes prominent environmentalist and national columnist Ivan Restrepo. "Diseases typical of poverty, like malnutrition and gastrointestinal disorders, are now expanded to include those of prosperous but poorly nourished societies."

In northern Coahuila state, public education and health agencies are planning dietary education programs and mulling regulations to prohibit the sale of junk food inside and outside of school grounds. A bill is pending in the state congress that would regulate the sale of junk food near educational institutions. A law that prohibits the sale of junk food outside schools kicked into force in the state of Baja California last year, while similar legislation was recently approved by Sonora lawmakers.

It remains to be seen how successful anti-junk food measures will be in practice. Many itinerant vendors make their living selling sweets, sodas and potato chips to schoolchildren, and most schools host a small store that is run by insiders.

At the federal level, Congressman Samuel Aguilar of the PRI party introduced a bill in the Chamber of Deputies last year that would have required manufacturers to place health warnings on their products; it would also have regulated fast food advertising in the media. In response, the Con Mexico business association mobilized its forces to water down Aguilar's proposed law. Politically influential members of Con Mexico include, among others, chip queen Sabritas, pastry prince Bimbo and soda king Coca-Cola.

Sources: La Jornada, April 9, 2007. Article by Ivan Restrepo. El Universal/Notimex, April 7, 2007.  

Not All Sex Industry Workers Get Health Exams

Officials from the Tijuana municipal government have expressed concerns about the frequency of health exams for thousands of sex industry workers. Manuel Mayor, sanitary control department head, recently said that only 50 percent of the 5,860 sex industry workers registered in the municipality show up for monthly exams to check for sexually-transmitted diseases. Another group comes in for check-ups every three or four months, Mayor added. 

"We have carried out campaigns, but it is very difficult to reach a population that is only interested in time and money," Mayor said. "They live on the run and undergo exams because they have to do them, not because they are convinced that it is good for their health; unfortunately, this is the reality." Under municipal regulations, sex industry workers are required to maintain an updated, official health card and pay for regular health check-ups to guarantee that they are free of sexually-transmitted diseases.

According to Mayor, 11 cases of HIV were detected in sex industry workers last year. "More than anything else, we have detected diseases of less importance," he said. "Gonorrhea and syphilis are the most important ones which we have detected, while HIV has really represented very small percentages."

Jorge Larrieu  Creel, director of municipal inspection and verification, estimated that his department's field inspectors typically find that 10-15 percent of prostitutes don't have health cards or have one that is expired. The demographics and labor dynamics of  Tijuana's sex industry complicate more effective health controls. Many prostitutes reside outside the border city and only come to Tijuana for short periods of time before returning home. Women account for the vast of Tijuana's nearly 6,000 registered sex industry workers, but 100 men are also signed up on the municipal rolls.

Source: Frontera, March 15, 2007. Article by Ana Cecilia Ramirez      

Will the Mexican Government Expand Health Insurance Coverage?

In his inaugural address to the nation on December 1, Mexican President Felipe Calderon pledged to expand low-income social programs that he said enjoy a track record of success. Among the programs President Calderon cited was Popular Insurance, a low-income health insurance plan that was developed during the Fox Administration. Although Popular Insurance gets a fair amount of media attention, little is publicized about the details and benefits of the current program. According to one Popular Insurance official in northern Chihuahua state, the existing program does not pay for curing dozens of serious ailments and diseases.

At a Ciudad Juarez press conference last week, Guadalupe Vasquez, Popular Insurance coordinator for Chihuahua state, revealed that 66 health conditions and diseases are not covered for treatment in the government-run program. Vasquez said the uncovered conditions include Parkinson's Disease, dementia, migraine, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, herpes, third-degree burns, cirrhosis of the liver, and breast cancer. In Ciudad Juarez , cirrhosis and other liver problems ranked high among mortality causes for the general population in 2005. Another big health problem in the border city is breast cancer. Statistics from the epidemiological division of Ciudad Juarez 's General Hospital report that a woman died from breast cancer every eight days in 2005, while a new case was detected every 12 days.

In remarks to the press, Vasquez said that previously excluded health conditions will be proposed for inclusion in Popular Insurance during 2007. The health insurance program coordinator explained that the proposal will be presented to the National Commission for Social Health Protection, but did not mention where funding for expanded coverage might be derived. Vasquez added that 669 Ciudad Juarez families which previously had to pay a fee of about $65 dollars per year to remain part of Popular Insurance will no longer have to pay the charges.

Sources: La Jornada, December 2, 2006 . El Diario de Juarez, December 1, 2006. Article by Sandra Rodriguez Nieto.

Anorexia and Malnutrition Ravage a Border Middle School

A survey of Ciudad Juarez middle school students has revealed that 40 percent of the pupils, mainly girls, suffer from anorexia. Carried out by nutritionists and teachers at the Federal Secondary School #17, the researchers discovered that many of the 500 students prefer self-starvation and slim figures to full bellies and big waistlines.

"None of the students realize that they suffer anorexia," said teacher Sara Felisa Carrasco, "but they have been diagnosed by the nutritionists." Maria del Rocio Carpintero Gonzalez, the middle school's principal, said many girls confine their daily diet to a bag of potato chips and a soda every day in order to not get fat.

The school's study also uncovered a malnutrition problem that manifested itself in the classroom with restless and inattentive students. Other young people suffered from headaches and even fainting spells. According to Carrasco, 30 percent of the students showed symptoms of malnutrition, and some suffered from digestive ailments.

Serving students from a poor neighborhood, Federal Secondary School #17 is the site of a school-community project aimed at improving the students' health conditions and their physical environment. The institution is the only middle school in Ciudad Juarez to have a kitchen supported by the municipal branch of the Integral Family Development (DIF) agency.

School staff credit the kitchen with improving students' eating habits and behavior. A free breakfast of cereal, yogurt or jello is offered in the morning, while low-cost hot lunches accompanied by flavored waters are served up later in the day. Nutritionist Julia Lizeth Yanez Limas said the number of students using the kitchen has grown from 20 young people to daily average of 50 or 60, with 120 lining up for food on some days.

Still, the school's educators and health workers face an uphill task in a society in which junk food has become a staple. "The students bring with them nutritional disorders they acquired since they were very young," Principal Carpintero added.

Source: Diario de Juarez, May 7, 2006 . Article by Guadalupe Felix.

Ciudad Juarez News :Border Drug Addictions, Diseases Probed

A new study by binational researchers has revealed the prevalence of HIV and certain diseases among drug abusers in two border cities. Conducted by the non-governmental organization Compañeros and academic researchers from California , the study compared syphillis, hepatitis C and HIV rates in drug addicts from Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana . Elena Ramos Rodriguez of the Ciudad Juarez-based Compañeros group, said 206 drug users from Ciudad Juarez were sampled against the same number from Tijuana . The study sample was confined to persons who consumed one or two types of illegal substances.

According to Ramos, 2.8 percent of the Juarez sample group tested positive for HIV compared to 3 percent of the Tijuana group. In terms of syphillis, 13.7 percent of the Juarez group suffered from the disease against 3.6 percent of the Tijuana group. The presence of Hepatitis C was reported in a whopping 96.2 percent of the participants from Ciudad Juarez and 95.5 percent of those from Tijuana . Although free syringes are available in Ciudad Juarez , it was noted that many addicts prefer to rent their "works" in "picaderos" at the moment when illegal drugs are purchased.

Members of the US-Mexico Border Health Commission are promoting campaigns to reduce drug addictions. Marge Bartolleti of the El Paso-based Rio Grande Safe Communities Coalition said all three levels of government must become involved in the effort. Heroin and other drug addictions are common problems in Ciudad Juarez and other border cities.

Source: El Diario de Juarez, November 24, 2005. Article by Guadalupe Felix.

Dengue Detected in Matamoros

 Health authorities in Matamoros have detected another case of dengue in their city. The latest diagnosis, involving a patient from the Mexico Agrario neighborhood, was reported by the Mexican Social Security Institute. Victor Garcia Fuentes, a spokesman for the state Ministry of Health, said the patient was treated and allowed to go home. "Fortunately, the patient is reported stable, and was released to continue recuperating at home," said Garcia, adding that health officials have erected an "epidemiological barrier" around a 40-block zone near the patient's residence.

According to the health department official, a clean-up and fumigation campaign is underway in parts of eastern Matamoros that might be affected by a bigger dengue outbreak. Garcia emphasized that more cases of the disease could be prevented if people clean their patios, eliminate stagnant pools of water and throw out garbage in which water can accumulate.  "If we all cooperate, we could improve the situation and  avoid a massive outbreak of this disease," implored Garcia. At least three cases of dengue have been diagnosed in Matamoros, a city bordering Brownsville, Texas. After the most recent case was discovered, authorities issued a health alert.

 Source: El Bravo, July 9, 2005. Article by Nannette Sedas.

U.S. Health Crisis Fuels a Border Boom Town

 A small Baja California border town is the scene of  a thriving economy rooted in the high medical-dental  prices of the United States. Located about 40 miles from Mexicali and on the border near Yuma, Arizona, the town of Los Algodones (population 15,000) welcomes daily upwards of 500 visitors who come in search of pills, pharmacies, dentists, and even cardiologists. Business is so brisk that dozens of young promoters stand in the town's streets and bark at potential customers: "Come over here for the cheapest and best quality!" Jesus Osorio, a spokesman for dentists, said a large number of businesses in Los Algodones depend on elderly customers from north of the border. "There are close to 250 dentists and more than 50 pharmacies whose principal customers are the hundreds of retired and old people from the United States and Canada who cross the border looking for services which are much more expensive in their own countries," said Osorio.

 In Los Algodones, shoppers can find penicillin for as cheap as $2.50 dollars, and dental work which might cost $5,000 dollars in the United States can be obtained in the Baja California border town for less than one-third of the U.S.  price. The prices are so attractive that charter flights from Los Angeles and as far away as Minnesota make Los Algodones their principal destination. "Over there those medical costs are more expensive," said Minnesota resident and Los Algodones visitor Dave Jones. "That's why I took advantage of my vacation time and came to Los Algodones."

The medical tourism industry aside, Los Algodones' geographic location also blesses its business prospects. Every fall and winter, thousands of so-called "snowbirds" flock from the north and set up camp in trailer parks on the U.S. side of the border. Staying for months on end, the mainly retired "snowbirds" have ample time to sample Los Algodones. Like landlords who rent out vacation properties, or bars that open only for the season in Mexican tourist destinations, dentists and medical providers in Los Algodones find they can earn the bulk of their income in just a few months. "Some of us dentists rent an office for $4,000 dollars during the high season and we take all of our equipment with the intention of earning dollars and maintaining ourselves the rest of the year in Mexicali," said Osorio.

 Source: El Universal, June 25, 2005. Article by Rosa Maria Mendez Fierros.

Youth Health Promoted

The Baja California State Secretary of Health has kicked off a week-long health promotion campaign aimed at young people aged 10 to 19. Virginia Rodriguez Diaz, the head of the state's adolescent health program, said authorities are especially concerned about the young sector of the public, which represents about 20 percent of the population.  "Our representatives will focus their actions on the open population as well as the captive one," said Rodriguez. "That's to say, youth aged 10 to 19 who are in school, as well as those who are in maquiladoras or not studying."

Rodriguez added that her agency is worried about youth because of problems stemming from addictions, accidents and unplanned pregnancies. As part of the new health drive, the Secretary of Health will conduct talks in schools about self-esteem, values and assertiveness, and offer information about programs including family planning and transmission of sexual diseases. The Secretary of Health plans to distribute condoms to youth as one option in thinking about birth control and family planning. Information booths at schools associated with the Cbitis and Conalep programs will also be set up.  "A youth brigade was established in Cbitis 21that will give the first assistance to their friends," explained Rodriguez.

Source: La Cronica, June 7, 2005. Article by Magdalena Lopez.

Toxic Fumes Send Children to Hospital; Community Chemical Hazards Revealed

 A suspected plume of toxic gas sent more than 20 children from the Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez Elementary School in Nuevo Laredo to the hospital late last week. Responding to an emergency call, members of the Mexican army, fire department, civil protection department, and Red Cross arrived at the school where they found children 7 to 10 years of age suffering from sharp headaches, nausea and fainting spells. The rescue personnel evacuated 200 students from the school and transported them to the hospital where they were treated and released. Specialists from the Sony Corporation and Natural Gas company also intervened in the emergency. The incident occurred in an outlying neighborhood, or colonia, of Nuevo Laredo lacking in hospitals or clinics which could have offered immediate assistance.

 Investigators initially traced the source of the suspected toxic cloud to the home of 76-year-old Leonardo Reyes Martinez, who was also hospitalized.  According to officials,  Reyes noticed a fire smoldering from discarded material he had earlier put in his yard and attempted to douse it with water, which instead, ignited the material and provoked the spreading of the suspected toxic cloud. Samples of the suspect material were sent to a lab in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, to determine its identity. Meanwhile, an official with Nuevo Laredo’s civil protection department commented on other, possible risks faced by residents from the storage of hazardous substances.

Alvaro Fernandez Palomares, assistant director of civil protection, said an inspection of industrial parks by his department revealed that about 10 percent of warehouses used by transport and customs companies had chemicals and other hazardous materials.

 “We inspected about 300 warehouses of transport and customs companies and found that some of them contain chemicals,” said Fernandez. “We gave them 24 hours to retire those chemical products and transfer them immediately to Mina, though the waste products which come from imported materials have to be returned to their places of origin.”  Fernandez added that his department also discovered a lack of security and fire extinguishers at some of the places inspected.  The presence of hazardous materials at industrial sites was cited as a concern because of their proximity to densely populated residential zones. 

Sources:  El Manana, May 29, 2005. Article by Jaime Orozco Tey. Primera Hora, May 29, 2005. Article by Gaston Monge. Ultima Hora, May 29, 2005. Article by Nora Morales Morales.  El Universal, May 29, 2005. Article by Gaston Monge.

Children Tested for Lead Contamination

Wads of giggles and a few tears too filled the sweltering front room of the La Casita community center in the southern New Mexico border community of Anapra on May 20. Cautiously holding out their small arms, dozens of children gave blood samples to find out how residents’ health has been impacted by the operations of the old Asarco lead and copper smelter. Located just down the road in El Paso, Texas, the plant has been shut down since 1999.

“I feel very satisfied that justice has been done, and finally we’ve been taken into account with these kinds of tests,” says middle school student Blanca Ortega.

 Supported by members of the El Paso branch of the Sierra Club, Ortega and other Anapra residents are waging a grassroots campaign to probe the extent of lead contamination in this small, low-income subdivision of Sunland Park, which borders Mexico. Obtaining 40 sample kits from a private lab based in Minnesota, the activists will have the blood samples checked by an El Paso doctor.  Dating back to the 1970s, studies of neighborhoods close to the smelter in El Paso and neighboring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, registered high levels of lead and other heavy metals  in the soils of homes and properties. Asarco spokespersons deny they were responsible, blaming the contamination on lead paint, pesticides and two crushing businesses. 

 In 1982, the Washington Post and El Paso Times reported that New Mexico environmental officials were pointing to emissions from Asarco’s smokestacks as the cause for excessive levels of lead in the air of Sunland Park and Anapra. Many Anapra residents complain they are in the dark about the pollution that might be present in and around their own homes. Most recently, the community was excluded from a 1999 lead study of towns in southern New Mexico and northern Chihuahua. Retired attorney Taylor Moore, who advises La Casita’s members, contends that New Mexico and federal officials are covering up a staggering problem.  

 “We have at our own expense attempted to try to find out whether these kids have lead in their blood,” says Moore. “They need to be tested for every heavy metal Asarco emitted.” Moore says. Especially vulnerable, children can suffer impairments to their cognitive development if they are exposed to excessive amounts of lead.  

 Thomas Ruiz, an epidemiologist with the Border Health Office (BHO) of the New Mexico Department of Health, says his agency wants to know too whether or not Anapra’s children and other residents have high amounts of lead in their blood. Ruiz says the BHO will conduct two studies beginning next month to detect lead in the soil of Anapra and in the blood of its residents. A separately-funded BHO study of urine samples from 14 Anapra and Sunland Park residents began last March, the first phase of urine sampling planned to reach 50 people, but the initial results still have not been reported, says Ruiz.  

Working with Sunland Park’s La Clinica de Familia,  nurses and doctors will fan out in Anapra for 2 or 3 Saturdays in June to draw blood samples from up to 200 children, according to Ruiz. “We’re going to see if there are high levels of lead in the blood of kids in Sunland Park,” he says. While previous United States Environmental Protection Agency studies revealed high amounts of lead in soil around Mt. Cristo Rey at Anapra’s doorstep, Ruiz adds that dirt immediately outside private homes remains to be tested. Ruiz says his office wants to test the soils of 100 homes.

 “We know that (Asarco) has existed for many years,” adds Ruiz, “and with the studies we’ve done we’re analyzing if there are problems.” Some are very skeptical about any project in Anapra conducted by the BHO.  Moore, for instance, contends that the BHO previously refused to test Anapra’s children.  “On a scale of 1-10,” says Moore, “(BHO) is a minus 10.”  The former attorney says many Anapra residents want the BHO to step aside. “They’re going to have to start shooting straight with the community,” he says.  Ruiz says he expects the results from the planned BHO soil and blood sampling in Anapra to be available later in the summer.

Kent Paterson

New Ensenada AIDS and HIV Cases in 2004 (but Does the Disease Exist?)

An article and in interview in the Tijuana newspaper Frontera (no relation to Frontera NorteSur) deal with the topic of HIV/AIDS.  The article states that Ensenada registered 27 new cases of AIDS and 32 new cases of HIV in 2004, according to Dr. Oscar Castillo Soria, a city health official.  Castillo noted that 95% of the cases were related to unprotected sex.  He reminded readers that AIDS is caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). 

A second piece, an interview with a Colombian doctor working in New York City, refutes traditional notions of HIV/AIDS and puts forth the idea that the disease is not contagious. 

The interview, entitled "'HIV Does Not Exist': Girlado'", is with Dr. Roberto Giraldo Molina who is identified as a Colombian doctor and "the current leader of the group of more than 5,000 scientists from around the world including Nobel Prize winners who are for the scientific reconsideration of the HIV/AIDS hypothesis."  Frontera newspaper also states that Giraldo has been studying immunology for 30 years and currently works in the "Immunology and Molecular Biology Laboratory at the Cornell Medical Hospital in New York."

Although the Cornell University Medical College lists a Roberto Giraldo as a "Lab Technologist" at a "Central Lab" on its web site, a call from Frontera NorteSur to the public affairs office did not yield a phone number for him.  Calls put through to two laboratories also failed to find anyone named Roberto Giraldo. 

In the interview, which is the first of two parts to be published, Giraldo is quoted as saying that "I'm not the only one who says it, we are more than 5,000 researchers and scientists in more than 50 countries that believe we have the scientific proof to demonstrate that nothing that has been said about AIDS and HIV has scientific validity."  Giraldo goes on to say that contagiousness does not exist with respect to AIDS, "Contagiousness no, contagiousness does not exist, it's that the entire discourse they have been giving us for 23 years has been wrong."

With respect to AIDS among hemophiliacs, Giraldo acknowledged that the disease appeared among them "but it did not have anything to do with the virus."  Instead, as in other populations, it appeared because of toxins and emotional states, he explained.  According to Giraldo, drugs given to hemophiliacs in the 1970s along with "their fear of bleeding to death--permanent fear--weakened their immune system."  These combined factors then led to AIDS. 

The outbreak of HIV/AIDS in the gay population is also attributed to toxins and negative emotional states, Giraldo explained.  In talking about what he recognized as the first AIDS cases described in the world--a number of cases among gay men recorded in 1981 in Los Angeles--Giraldo stated that drugs and benzene-based sexual lubricants allegedly used by homosexuals partially led to the deterioration of their immune systems.  Another factor he said was that this group of men, which he described as very promiscuous,  lived ". . . in a state of permanent sadness, of remorse, and could not rest or sleep well; all of which contributed to the deterioration of their immune system."

Giraldo reiterated that HIV is not sexually transmitted.  This conclusion he said was that of an early researcher who believed that since the first men to have the disease were gay it must have meant that the disease was sexually transmitted. 

Stemming from his belief that HIV is not contagious, Giraldo says that needle exchange programs "are a crime."  It is the use of toxic drugs themselves that deteriorates the immune system, he states.  Therefore, anything that encourages more drug use, like giving out needles, would create more AIDS. 

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), January 19, 2005.  Interview by Omar Millán González.