© Courtesy of INSPAutlán mining operations in the mountains of Hidalgo.
"The company takes a sceptical position (about studies that show the effects of manganese poisoning); it does not believe that it is causing the problems or that it is to blame," but the evidence is irrefutable, Horacio Riojas, from the Population Health Research Centre of the government's National Public Health Institute (INSP), told Tierramérica.
Riojas said the findings are alarming. Sixty percent of the adults who live near the mines present neurological problems and trembling similar to the effects of Parkinson's disease. In the case of the children near the mines, it was found that their intellectual and learning abilities are 20 percent lower than the comparable group that does not live near any mines.
There is no doubt that the exposure to manganese is the cause of the problems, he said.
Comment: It is important to note that for the most part our leaders are pathological individuals who promote, through the media and a climate of fear, a culture where pathological behaviour is rewarded. Thus, even people without the genetic predisposion, adopt the pathological behaviour in order to survive in the world. And when our conscience goes to sleep, it is then easier to lie and cheat, it becomes the norm, and we too are then more likely to be deceived. The way the system is designed allows pathology to win... unless we take responsibility to educate ourselves.