Villagers blame cancers on highway
By Wang Xiang |
August 14, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CANCER rates in a remote southwest China village have soared over the past decade, and villagers are blaming water pollution caused by an expressway.
Residents in Tuerguan Village of Yunnan Province told the Kunming Daily that all kinds of cancers began to haunt the village after the highway was built 10 years ago. Two people died last month.
Over the past decade 37 cancer patients have been registered in Tuerguan, which has a population of 720 people.
Twenty-seven had died, 13 of whom were under 50.
The village has only one water source, a reservoir that collects spring water and rain. The water was clear and sweet before the highway was built, villagers told the newspaper.
But the water became polluted after construction started and villagers found that the road had blocked and ruined many springs. Rainwater formed dirty pools on the highway and trickled into the reservoir, mixed with oil pollution left by the more than 30,000 vehicles passing the village every day.
Cancer became common in Tuerguan, said Tang Zhonghua, the head of the village. His wife has just been diagnosed with oral cancer.
"Fear is spreading," Tang said. "Those who can afford to move out have done that, sick people can only wait for their death."
Villagers have begun to buy bottled water but those who can't afford it walk miles into the mountains to collect cleaner water, the newspaper reported.
Tang said the village complained about the water every year, but the health authority in Kunming City's Guandu District told them it is safe to drink when boiled.
Former village head Wang Dengcai said the district government had pledged to set up a water distillation unit in the village but nothing had happened during his tenure.
Residents in Tuerguan Village of Yunnan Province told the Kunming Daily that all kinds of cancers began to haunt the village after the highway was built 10 years ago. Two people died last month.
Over the past decade 37 cancer patients have been registered in Tuerguan, which has a population of 720 people.
Twenty-seven had died, 13 of whom were under 50.
The village has only one water source, a reservoir that collects spring water and rain. The water was clear and sweet before the highway was built, villagers told the newspaper.
But the water became polluted after construction started and villagers found that the road had blocked and ruined many springs. Rainwater formed dirty pools on the highway and trickled into the reservoir, mixed with oil pollution left by the more than 30,000 vehicles passing the village every day.
Cancer became common in Tuerguan, said Tang Zhonghua, the head of the village. His wife has just been diagnosed with oral cancer.
"Fear is spreading," Tang said. "Those who can afford to move out have done that, sick people can only wait for their death."
Villagers have begun to buy bottled water but those who can't afford it walk miles into the mountains to collect cleaner water, the newspaper reported.
Tang said the village complained about the water every year, but the health authority in Kunming City's Guandu District told them it is safe to drink when boiled.
Former village head Wang Dengcai said the district government had pledged to set up a water distillation unit in the village but nothing had happened during his tenure.
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