Social Effects of Biotechnology in the Dairy Industry in Northern Mexico

This study aims to critically analyze the excessive growth of the dairy industry in the Laguna region of Mexico, emphasizing its social and environmental impacts. Through 30 semi-structured interviews with business owners, local workers, and public officials, the social reality of the inhabitants of La Laguna and the social consequences of the dairy industry in their lives were investigated. The findings reveal that the expansion of the dairy industry affects the environment by contaminating drinking water sources with its waste. In addition, it was documented how genetic modifications to cattle generate a spiral of economic dependence that lowers the cost of meat and subjects cows to intense pharmacological treatments, which has serious consequences for the soil where cattle deposit their waste, making it infertile for agriculture. On the other hand, the inhabitants of rural areas of La Laguna feel alienated due to the economic dependence on the dairy industry, where they have lost their peasant identity by becoming proletarians with precarious wages. In addition, the inhabitants are affected by health problems derived from the industry, such as arsenic contamination of the aquifers, skin and pancreatic cancer, and infections transmitted by flies from cattle slaughterhouses that mainly affect children. The study shows that the growth of the dairy industry in the La Laguna region is not an isolated phenomenon, but is intrinsically linked to old power structures and social dynamics between the government, industry, and local chieftains. It concludes with an analysis of this extractivist logic of progress and makes recommendations for the future in terms of public policies for social welfare and environmental regulation.