THE BORDER BABIES

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KEMET ELECTRONICS The manufacturer, based in Greenville, S.C., used thousands of gallons a month of methylene chloride, a chemical that causes cancer in lab animals, at its Matamoros plant. In 1988 Kemet's consultant found that airborne methylene chloride waste was 30 times as great in Mexico as at its plant in North Carolina. Later, another Kemet study found that the highest readings of the toxic chemical were found near the high school next door.

TRICO The manufacturer moved its windshield-wiper operation from Buffalo, N.Y., where it laid off more than 1,000 workers, to Matamoros. In a 1994 deposition, the plant manager said the hazardous waste was shipped back to the U.S., but the plaintiffs' investigators found one Matamoros dump littered with charred windshield wipers, evidence that discarded products were burned, potentially releasing hazardous chemicals into the air.

All these companies declined to respond on the record to CNN. GM did send a letter noting that "the primary cause of these types of birth defects is lack of sufficient folic acid in the diet" of the expectant mother. But Janet Ramirez responds, "I was always watching my diet. They're just trying to blame the victim." Each week she makes a pilgrimage to her daughter's grave site. MARIA GUADALUPE, the tombstone reads, 1991-1991.

Mark Feldstein is a CNN correspondent. Steve Singer is a free-lance CNN producer. CNN's Impact airs Sundays at 9 p.m. E.T.