Mexico: Severe pollution of the River Santiago affects the right to food and to health of the people who live along its riverside, Jalisco.

Over the last three decades, the Santiago River has had to cope with waste waters from the chemical-pharmaceutical, food and drink, textile, non-metallic mineral, metal-working, electric and electronic industries, as well as local waste sewage waters. Due to the heavy pollution of the river, for nearly 120,000 people living in the riverside towns of Juanacatlán and El Salto, Jalisco state, the food and income sources from agricultural and farming activities have been totally or partially destroyed. Diseases such as cancer and respiratory illnesses, especially among children have spread.