Poverty and Pollution Case Study

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Suggest the reasons a business may conduct operations in a third world country and disregard any standards of pollution control. In many Third World nations, pollution is unrestricted. Countless other environmental problems are also not addressed by their government. Most often, creating and enforcing environmental regulations would be economically disastrous for a poor country. As a result it is forced to choose between buying food and having a clean environment. Food is always a concern for a poor nation and that choice will always be on the top of the list. Western countries take advantage of this dilemma of Third World countries. They dump garbage and hazardous waste in developing countries. First World companies might also build plants, which emit considerable pollution, in Third World nations to avoid the regulations these companies would face at home. Some transnational corporations that produce chemicals deemed overly dangerous in the First World find a market in the Third World. Third World governments cannot restrict usage of these chemicals because it would be too costly to citizens trying to make a living. As Western nations enact laws promoting worker safety, more manufacturers have moved their factories to less developed countries, where there are little or no occupations laws, or no enforcement agencies. Industries such as textile, petrochemical, and chemical production, as well as smelting and electronics, have migrated to Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. One other reason to mention are the industries facing a shrinking market in developed countries due to environmental concerns have begun advertising in Third World countries. For example, DDT production, led by United States and Canadian companies, is at an all-time high even though it is illegal to produce or use the pesticide in the United States or Europe since the 1970s.

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