mucho frío, mejicano-estilo
CFC 12 smuggling.
More smuggling of note: there's a thriving traffic of CFC 12 across the U.S. - Mexican border, and U.S. Department of Justice and Mexican environmental officials met last week to coordinate efforts to curtail it. CFC 12, a.k.a. Freon, was banned by international agreement in developed countries in 1987, taking effect by 1995. Its replacements are less efficient, and in some cases toxic, and conversion to the new coolants has cost the American economy several billion dollars. Putting aside the fact that the theory of CFCs as an ozone layer destroyer are based as much on media hype as substantiated science, the ban itself is not working. 20 million American automobiles, built before 1995, contain CFC 12 based air conditioners. Keeping these cars stocked with the coolant they require has fueled a booming smuggling business. Contraband Freon, manufactured and sold legally in Mexico, ships across the border "in backpacks, hidden from border inspectors in the cavities of cars, and shipped north by the ton concealed in 18-wheel tractor-trailers" according to the Associated Press.
Eventually the attrition of older vehicles and other machinery that uses Freon will cause this market to evaporate. In the meantime, though, the black market provides consumers with what government regulation denies, carried on the backs and in the trucks of the "frío banditos."
10.02.2003 © ljr