Villagers' pollution plea
By Zhang Xuanchen |
October 14, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
VILLAGERS have renewed calls for the government in a coal mining county in southwest China to take action over pollution they say is to blame for hundreds of lung cancer deaths.
With nearly 11 people per village dying from lung cancer every year, the 24 villages in Xuanwei County, Yunnan Province, have been dubbed "cancer villages" by residents, the Yunnan.com news website said.
In 2006, local health authorities launched a cancer prevention and treatment campaign in the worst-hit Laibing Village, which reported 31 deaths last year.
However, residents told reporters the deaths are still rising.
Farmer He Liangzhu, from Tangtang Village, said his parents, younger brother and three uncles had all died of lung cancer. His tragedy is not uncommon in the village, which has become the worst-hit village this year.
The villagers blamed breakneck economic growth for increasingly taking its toll on the health of the county, where more than 30 mines were situated near water sources and farmland, producing millions of tons of coal, copper and iron every year as well as sewage and toxic gas.
Untreated sewage and coal waste were being released into the county's longest river, which was also the main water source for drinking and farming, before proper treatment, villagers said. Meanwhile, smoke from factories had loomed over the villages for years.
Local authorities said they still need time to decide on the connection between the high cancer rate and chemical pollution.
With nearly 11 people per village dying from lung cancer every year, the 24 villages in Xuanwei County, Yunnan Province, have been dubbed "cancer villages" by residents, the Yunnan.com news website said.
In 2006, local health authorities launched a cancer prevention and treatment campaign in the worst-hit Laibing Village, which reported 31 deaths last year.
However, residents told reporters the deaths are still rising.
Farmer He Liangzhu, from Tangtang Village, said his parents, younger brother and three uncles had all died of lung cancer. His tragedy is not uncommon in the village, which has become the worst-hit village this year.
The villagers blamed breakneck economic growth for increasingly taking its toll on the health of the county, where more than 30 mines were situated near water sources and farmland, producing millions of tons of coal, copper and iron every year as well as sewage and toxic gas.
Untreated sewage and coal waste were being released into the county's longest river, which was also the main water source for drinking and farming, before proper treatment, villagers said. Meanwhile, smoke from factories had loomed over the villages for years.
Local authorities said they still need time to decide on the connection between the high cancer rate and chemical pollution.
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