Health Risks Of Living In US Border Colonias Prompt Funding Increase Proposal

*This is very good news! There are twenty-five hundred colonias along the U.S.-Mexico border where conditions are equal to third-world standards. President Obama wants to increase funding by 50 percent to help those areas. VL

By Lorne Matalon, Fronteras

Thousands of mostly poor Hispanic people live in border communities called colonias with no access to running water or electricity.

Now, the Obama administration wants the four border states that receive federal funds for colonia improvement to increase spending there by 50 percent.

The announcement comes as scientists say potential health consequences of living in colonias are too severe to ignore.

“We all complain about stomach problems, cramps, diarrhea,” said Ivette Lujan at a colonia north of Presidio, Texas.

There are at least 2,500 colonias in the four states bordering Mexico, the vast majority in Texas.

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