Mexico: NGOs and experts send amicus curiae brief to Supreme Court on suspension of 49,000 pig farm in the Yucatan Peninsula
“Conservationists file brief against Yucatán hog farm, citing ‘grave harm to health’”, 06 May 2021
...A group of conservation organizations, scientists, doctors and public health experts have filed a legal brief with the Supreme Court (SCJN) to support a case against a 49,000-head hog farm in Yucatán...The groups asked the SCJN to uphold a 2018 Yucatán court decision which, on environmental grounds, suspended operations at the farm, located about 50 kilometers southeast of Mérida near the Mayan town of Homún...The environmental groups said in a statement that their brief supports constitutional claims raised by Maya children who oppose the pig farm’s approval and operation. Citing arguments to be presented in the lawsuit, they said the decision to allow the massive facility in “an ecologically sensitive area” near Homún “violates the Mayan children’s rights to a healthy environment and to autonomy as indigenous people”...The groups said their amicus curiae brief details “substantial scientific evidence about the grave and irreversible harm to human health and the environment associated with industrial hog operations”. The harm includes “contamination of water, including naturally occurring freshwater wells known as cenotes; emission of noxious air pollution; the spread of dangerous pathogens and contribution to climate change”...The environmental organizations noted that “the Ring of Cenotes Geohydrological Reserve, located in Homún on a site of global and ecological importance, is especially vulnerable to pollution” from the farm, owned by the company Producción Alimentaria Porcícola, or PAPO...