Relocation hopes for residents of poisoned village
Print Edition
RESIDENTS may be moved from a village in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region which is contaminated by cancer-causing mining waste.
This follows media exposure of cases of cadmium poisoning in the Changtun area of Sanhe Village.
The local Daxin County government is now seeking support from higher authorities to relocate local villagers.
China Central Television reported on Sunday that around 2,000 villagers began complaining of joint pain, with some reporting their limbs becoming deformed with swellings and numerous lumps.
“I have to take pain killers three times a day, otherwise I can’t stand the pain and can’t move,” said 54-year-old Huang Guiqiang, who has rows of chestnut-sized lumps all over his arms.
Huang said he asked doctors to remove the lumps but was told that surgery wouldn’t get to the root of his illness.
Fellow villager Wu Shimin, 65, was the first person in Changtun to have a tests after he felt joint pain.
In 1999, he was found to have cadmium levels three times the safe limit.
Another 46 villagers also underwent checkups, with only three shown to be healthy, CCTV reported.
Cadmium is a carcinogenic metal mostly found in industrial workplaces.
Under long exposure, the bones become soft, the kidneys are damaged. In extreme cases of cadmium poisoning, mere body weight causes a fracture.
CCTV reported that the Guangxi Academy for the Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Diseases sent a medical team to check 556 villagers last month. The results should be published soon.
CCTV claimed that waste from an abandoned lead and zinc mine is the source of the cadmium pollution.
The mine, affiliated to the Guangxi Metallurgy Department, was open from 1954 until 2000. Waste materials were directly discharged into ponds and drains near the farmlands, in time leaching into crops, CCTV reported.
“We can see white material cover farmland and rice seedlings die,” said villager Zhao Chengxin.
In 2005, the region’s protection environmental department told villagers not to plant in the tainted land. Each was given 120 kilograms of rice per year.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
