Environmental Problems and the State of Compliance with the Right to a Healthy Environment in a Mining Region of Mexico

The objective of this article is to review the environmental problems in Mexican state of San Luis Potosi (mining region) and the state of compliance with the right to a healthy environment. Our study helps to demonstrate complexity of the environmental impact in a broader context, if it is repeated in other mining regions of the non-developing world. The findings include heavy metals as lead and arsenic, in soil, with neurotoxic and carcinogenic properties. Impact on the biota as a whole, decrease of the biological activity and enzymatic inhibition. Heavy metals, including arsenic, mercury, cadmium and lead, as a product of the metallurgical and foundry industry were detected in children of the city of San Luis Potosi. Water contaminated with fluorine and arsenic, product of the extensive drilling of water wells and the transfer of contaminants from the mining and metallurgical industry. Air contaminated with heavy metals product of mining and metallurgy and hydrocarbons in urban and rural areas. Plastics as a global problem, but with the absence of local diagnosis, despite having one of the main pollution factors: industrial development. Hydrocarbons as pollution with very little diagnosis, beyond environmental emergencies. There is no evidence that the right to a healthy environment is fulfilled in the State of San Luis Potosi.