Developing Dangerous Health Consequences By Sylvia Guendelman

Babies born to migrant workers suffer 25 percent higher infant mortality than the rest of the population. Malnutrition among migrant worker children is ten times higher in the nation. (Chavez)

Companies in the 1960’s realized that they could lower labor costs by moving plants to other countries with lower minimum wage than here in the united states. These assembly plants just south of the Us-Mexico boarder are called maquiladoras. These plants didn't just allow for labor costs to be lowered but also duty-free production, only rule was the goods must be exported out of Mexico. The maquiladoras also gave much needed jobs to the Mexican workers. The first few years of the new millennium many of these maquiladoras went out of business, due to lower wages in countries such as China and Guatemala. Since 2004, we have seen a rise in the number of maquiladoras on the Mexican boarder. We are seeing this increase because of high value products

The film that I am reviewing, title “The Poisoner’s Handbook,” is based on Deborah Blums best-selling book, of the same title, which reflects on the most notorious cases between the years of 1918 and 1959 that were handled by Charles Norris, the chief medical examiner for New York City, also known and described by his peers as “the father of forensic toxicology in America,” and Alexander Oscar Gettler, toxicologist with the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, such as the fatal radium poisoning of the factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint at the Orange, New Jersey watch factory around the year 1917 and other cases that involve dangerous poisons, like arsenic, methanol, lead, carbon monoxide, denatured alcohol, radium and thallium. Their renowned work led to tougher regulations by the government and the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. The film depicts how the average American’s medicine cabinet, in the early 1900s, was a treasure chest of dangerous poisons that could make you ill, put you in a coma, and even kill you. These poisons were readily found in health tonics, depilatory creams, teething medicine, and cleaning supplies.

What do we expect as a life of a Mexican migrant? The American public consistently listens to the media to these people crossing the border illegally, which is deemed as a crime. They see these people as stealing American jobs and benefiting from government programs such as welfare. Countless people think it was voluntary for them to come to the United State, therefore they deserve whatever comes their way, either health problems, racism or low paying jobs. However, what countless American people don’t realize is that the majority of Mexican migrants are forced to migrate to the United State to survive. They constantly risk their lives to cross a dangerous border in order to find the jobs that the American people don’t want to endure. In the book called Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, the author, Seth Holmes focus on the lives of an indigenous Mexican group called the Triquis. Throughout the book, he focuses on the journey of the group from their hometown in Oaxaca to farms in California and Washington. The book also emphasizes on how racism and health problems of migrant workers have become invisible. Their health problems and their social status in the social hierarchy are blamed on themselves because they decided to come to a place where they are seen as illegal aliens. Instead of blaming the Triqui people of their sickness, health care facilities need to treat them without judgement, address what exactly their sickness is as well as its structural causes.

The article, “Displaced People: NAFTA’s Most Important Product”, written by David Bacon for North American Congress on Latin America, discusses how economic crises have caused Mexicans to be displaced. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has caused the price of crops in Mexico to lower so much that there are no economic benefits from planting them. There are around 500,000 indigenous Mexicans from the state of Oaxaca now living in the United States as farmworkers. The article states that between 2000 and 2005, the countryside in Mexico has lost a million and a half jobs. This causes indigenous Mexicans who relied on planting crops to make money to migrate to the United States. Families that cannot migrate to the United States and are now jobless will go hungry as they search for buyers to buy the crops they grow. While the crops they grow continue to lose money value, the price of the food that they need to survive keeps increasing. After Mexico adopted NAFTA, the price of tortillas has more than doubled and companies continue to monopolize tortilla production. Poor Mexicans are left with no ability to make money and

According to the Cesar Chavez Foundation, “Some 800,000 under-aged children work with their families harvesting crops across America and as much as 30 percent of Northern California's garlic harvesters are under-aged children” (Chavez Foundation 1). All those children are being of an education because they are too busy working all day to go to school. Also because they are working all day farm workers have no time to teach their kids how to read and write so the kids never really develop the skills necessary to be able to communicate with other people. In addition the Cesar Chavez Foundation affirms that, “Babies born to migrant workers suffer 25 percent higher infant mortality than the rest of the population. Malnutrition among migrant worker children is 10 times higher than the national rate. Farm workers' average life expectancy is still 49 years --compared to 73 years for the average American” (Chavez Foundation 1). Most of those infant deaths are because the migrant workers don’t have the time or access to the medical attention required to raise infants. Farm workers' average life expectancy is probably so short due to the strenuous work they do on a daily

The readings for this week consisted of the introduction and first three chapters of Sarah B. Horton’s They Leave Their Kidneys In The Fields, Horton’s ethnographic exploration of migrant farm workers propensity for illness while working the fields. Horton interviews a variety of individuals, including field workers, attorneys, and USDA officials (Horton, pg. 25). Horton’s ethnographic style is interesting, as she uses what seem to be field diary entries along with a following theoretical analysis (Horton, 2016). Her accounts address both Salvadorian and Mexican immigrants (Horton, 2016). Horton does a good job of appearing neutral in her analysis of the situation.

Labor laws in the 20th century played a major role in the lives Mexicans and caused massive deportations as well as economic concerns with congress and Anglo-Americans in the United States. Labor laws were crucial part of the immigration waves through the 20th century and made an impact to voting patterns in the U.S. Natalia Molina discuss how, “Employers

In order to achieve the perfect selection of produce that the American consumer has come to expect, a high price must be paid by the laborers who make it possible. At the top of the list is their physical and mental well-being. Migrants and their dependents experience more frequent and more severe health problems than the general population. Their illnesses are often caused by poor nutrition, lack of resources, lack of education, or infectious diseases from overcrowding and poor sanitation. However, the health problems migrants and their families face because of their low-income status and unfamiliarity with the culture are compounded by a migratory lifestyle and the inherent dangers and health risks involved in their occupations. Stress and depression is a concern among migrants which may be related to isolation, economic hardship or the environment which can hinder their productivity. The pressure imposed on laborers by their employers, often as a result of their own economic pressure, to continue working despite chronic pain or illness begins to take its toll on their overall health. The stress they experience can contribute to the development of other health problems. The worker’s physical well-being is challenged as well. Health problems inherent in this population can include back

Another dysfunction would be the amount of money that the Maquiladoras make. Yes, they do get paid. Yes, they can buy some essentials such as food for their children, but they still live in poverty. They reside in small shacks with no running water, electricity, or sewage systems. These living conditions increase the risk of health problems which can put them out of work and deeper into

As a major contributor to the global economy, Mexico’s sweatshops have contributed to the United States’ wealth and economic growth. It is the unfortunate truth that many individual workers have suffered as a result of this prosperity. The sweatshops, known as maquiladoras, are in debate because of the ethical and lawful reasoning behind their existence and conditions. How can we, as a First-world nation, allow such industries to exist where people are denied basic and fundamental human rights? What, if any, laws and regulations are put into place for the maquiladoras? Are these laws and regulations hindering, harmful, or helpful? Are they enforced emphatically? If not, how does this affect development? After

In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser talks about the working conditions of fast food meat slaughterhouses. In the chapter “The Most Dangerous Job,” one of the workers, who despised his job, gave Schlosser an opportunity to walk through a slaughterhouse. As the author was progressed backwards through the slaughterhouse, he noticed how all the workers were sitting very close to each other with steel protective vests and knives. The workers were mainly young Latina women, who worked swiftly, accurately, while trying not to fall behind. Eric Schlosser explains how working in the slaughterhouses is the most dangerous profession – these poor working conditions and horrible treatment of employees in the plants are beyond

The factory jobs were controlled by owners and bosses, who showed little regard for workers and their wellbeing. Workers forced themselves into work during even extreme illnesses; one absence or mistake and they might be replaced without question. These low wage jobs came with few benefits and no rights; there was nothing in place that protected the livelihood of the worker. Immigrant’s willingness to work all the time created these conditions.

The link between Mexico and poverty is a large reason why children are forced to work in factories. Poverty began to be an issue for Mexico starting many years ago. In the 1940s, when industrialization began taking place, Mexico’s economy was growing at a rate of 6 per cent per year (Latapi and Gonzalez). This increase in the economy created two new social classes: the urban middle class and the new working class. By the late 70s, at least half of the working middle class held jobs related in manufacturing (Latapi and Gonzalez). This employment gave wages high enough to allow one worker the

Lifestyle Theory is a theory in Criminology created by Glenn Walters in 1990. Unsurprisingly this theory is just as the name would suggest, a lifestyle choice to be a criminal. This theory focuses heavily on the biological factors that influence a person’s ability to commit crime. Walters wrote three concepts to his theory: conditions, choice, and cognition. To start, I will address conditions. In Walters’s theory, he discusses the environmental and biological conditions that are involved in entering the criminal lifestyle. The environmental condition is based around your environment like the name suggests. What that means is that the decision to commit crime is due in part by your living situations and needs. This