Public health worker Beatriz Mendoza was living near the
Riachuelo River in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when she started
losing feeling in her fingers and toes. Her neighbours were also
experiencing health issues – including skin rashes, cancers and
birth defects – clearly linked to pollution in the heavily
industrialized area. The Matanza-Riachuelo basin is one of the
most contaminated waterways in Latin America. In 2004, Mendoza
and other residents sued the national, provincial and municipal
governments and 44 corporations. And they won. Environmental
lawyer David R. Boyd describes the case in his book, The Right
to a Healthy Environment: Revitalizing Canada's Constitution. He
writes that the lawsuit led Argentina’s government to establish
a new river basin authority and put in place clean-up,
restoration and regional environmental health plans. The
government has since increased the number of environmental
inspectors in the region from three to 250, and created 139
sampling points for monitoring water, air an