Villagers reap a deadly harvest of heavy metals
By Claire Wang |
February 23, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AS the first college student from her village, A Yue from southwest China's Yunnan Province is doubly lucky to be studying in Beijing, because not only will she receive a higher education, but she can also leave her home in what has become known as "cancer village."
Up to 2 percent of residents in her village in Gejiu City have cancer, nearly 100 times the rate in China, and average life expectancy stands at less than 50.
Gejiu City has one-sixth of the world's tin deposits and A Yue's grandfather, a miner who worked in a tin mine for over 30 years, died of lung cancer. His three brothers passed away with the same disease. A Yue's father has left the mine but suffers serious tin poisoning, China Economic Weekly reported yesterday.
The village's once fertile land is so contaminated that nothing can be grown locally and residents have to buy water and vegetables from towns several hundred kilometers away.
Besides Yunnan, other provinces such as Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou which are rich in mine resources, have all reported heavy metal contamination in soil.
Each year 1.2 million tons of food are polluted by heavy metals in China, causing a direct economic loss of more than 20 billion yuan (US$3.04 billion), according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Xiangjiang River, the major source of irrigation in central China's Hunan Province, was highly polluted as large volumes of industrial waste were dumped into it.
The volume of arsenic, cadmium and lead in the river accounted for over 90 percent of the total discharged in the province, a study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research showed.
As much as 95 percent of the vegetables grown along the Xiang River contained excess levels of arsenic and lead, the study said.
Outdated mining technology, scattered small mines and a lack of planning were to blame for the large-scale soil contamination, said Luo Zhongwei, a researcher with the academy's Institute of Industrial Economics.
Centipede grass, a plant that absorbs 20 times the amount of arsenic compared to normal plants, has been introduced in Chenzhou City in Hunan to deal with the pollution. It is estimated that the land can be cultivated again after growing centipede grass for three to five years,
However, the high cost and long repair cycle deterred a lot of villagers, who chose to bury contaminated soil deep underneath where the roots of grain crops couldn't reach, in pursuit of short-term economic gains.
In Gejiu, pollution in less than 100 mu (6.67 hectares) of farmland has been eased while the contaminated are amounts to more than 200,000 mu.
When asked whether she would go back to work in her hometown after graduation, A Yue pauses for some time before murmuring a non-committal: "I don't know."
Up to 2 percent of residents in her village in Gejiu City have cancer, nearly 100 times the rate in China, and average life expectancy stands at less than 50.
Gejiu City has one-sixth of the world's tin deposits and A Yue's grandfather, a miner who worked in a tin mine for over 30 years, died of lung cancer. His three brothers passed away with the same disease. A Yue's father has left the mine but suffers serious tin poisoning, China Economic Weekly reported yesterday.
The village's once fertile land is so contaminated that nothing can be grown locally and residents have to buy water and vegetables from towns several hundred kilometers away.
Besides Yunnan, other provinces such as Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou which are rich in mine resources, have all reported heavy metal contamination in soil.
Each year 1.2 million tons of food are polluted by heavy metals in China, causing a direct economic loss of more than 20 billion yuan (US$3.04 billion), according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Xiangjiang River, the major source of irrigation in central China's Hunan Province, was highly polluted as large volumes of industrial waste were dumped into it.
The volume of arsenic, cadmium and lead in the river accounted for over 90 percent of the total discharged in the province, a study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research showed.
As much as 95 percent of the vegetables grown along the Xiang River contained excess levels of arsenic and lead, the study said.
Outdated mining technology, scattered small mines and a lack of planning were to blame for the large-scale soil contamination, said Luo Zhongwei, a researcher with the academy's Institute of Industrial Economics.
Centipede grass, a plant that absorbs 20 times the amount of arsenic compared to normal plants, has been introduced in Chenzhou City in Hunan to deal with the pollution. It is estimated that the land can be cultivated again after growing centipede grass for three to five years,
However, the high cost and long repair cycle deterred a lot of villagers, who chose to bury contaminated soil deep underneath where the roots of grain crops couldn't reach, in pursuit of short-term economic gains.
In Gejiu, pollution in less than 100 mu (6.67 hectares) of farmland has been eased while the contaminated are amounts to more than 200,000 mu.
When asked whether she would go back to work in her hometown after graduation, A Yue pauses for some time before murmuring a non-committal: "I don't know."
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