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Heavy metal contamination of arable land worse than radiation
By Wang Yong |
April 5, 2011, Tuesday
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SOME of us have a strange blind spot: We raise the alarm about nuclear radiation from afar but take different and deadly contamination at home for granted.
Many Chinese people were scared by the nuclear leaks in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, although the radiation had dropped to near zero after wafting to China across the sea. So scared were many Chinese that they mobbed shops for iodized salt, thinking the iodine could protect them from radioactive iodine.
By contrast, there has been no run on rice in China (or any food) since the government disclosed late last month that heavy metals had seriously polluted much of the country's arable land.
Heavy metal pollution is so appalling that the Ministry of Environmental Protection held a national conference in late March, calling for an action plan to tackle the problem. The main metals from manufacturing plants are lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium and arsenic.
Ministry statistics show that heavy metals pollute 12 million tons of grain every year, equivalent to a year's grain output of Guangdong Province, or what feeds 40 million people.
Statistics from the Ministry of Land Resources show China loses 10 million tons of grain every year because of heavy metal pollution.
The other day, a friend told me her former boss from Australia had been diagnosed with too much heavy metals in his system since he arrived in China. The Australian simply ate too much Chinese rice.
But what about us Chinese? Some of us have regular physical checks every year and we're never told whether we have absorbed too much heavy metal elements. It never seems to be a problem for Chinese who have long coexisted with various deadly contaminants in air, water and soil.
My friend joked that since we Chinese have eaten and digested so many kinds of pollutants, bit by bit, that our bodies have built up a tolerance and can better survive a nuclear disaster than many other peoples.
Consider how badly China's arable land was polluted before Japan's nuclear radiation wafted to Chinese shores. Heavy metal pollution is concentrated in southern China, especially in the Pearl River Delta where industry rises at the expense of agriculture.
According to the Nanfang Daily on March 28, lead pollution may well persist in arable land for 100 years.
Car batteries are a big culprit in heavy metal pollution. Nature and our food supply have taken a hit because of our greed. The more people indulge in cars, the unhealthier food they eat.
But some of us don't care. They cry about nuclear leaks from afar, but never think to stop driving a car.
Many Chinese people were scared by the nuclear leaks in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, although the radiation had dropped to near zero after wafting to China across the sea. So scared were many Chinese that they mobbed shops for iodized salt, thinking the iodine could protect them from radioactive iodine.
By contrast, there has been no run on rice in China (or any food) since the government disclosed late last month that heavy metals had seriously polluted much of the country's arable land.
Heavy metal pollution is so appalling that the Ministry of Environmental Protection held a national conference in late March, calling for an action plan to tackle the problem. The main metals from manufacturing plants are lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium and arsenic.
Ministry statistics show that heavy metals pollute 12 million tons of grain every year, equivalent to a year's grain output of Guangdong Province, or what feeds 40 million people.
Statistics from the Ministry of Land Resources show China loses 10 million tons of grain every year because of heavy metal pollution.
The other day, a friend told me her former boss from Australia had been diagnosed with too much heavy metals in his system since he arrived in China. The Australian simply ate too much Chinese rice.
But what about us Chinese? Some of us have regular physical checks every year and we're never told whether we have absorbed too much heavy metal elements. It never seems to be a problem for Chinese who have long coexisted with various deadly contaminants in air, water and soil.
My friend joked that since we Chinese have eaten and digested so many kinds of pollutants, bit by bit, that our bodies have built up a tolerance and can better survive a nuclear disaster than many other peoples.
Consider how badly China's arable land was polluted before Japan's nuclear radiation wafted to Chinese shores. Heavy metal pollution is concentrated in southern China, especially in the Pearl River Delta where industry rises at the expense of agriculture.
According to the Nanfang Daily on March 28, lead pollution may well persist in arable land for 100 years.
Car batteries are a big culprit in heavy metal pollution. Nature and our food supply have taken a hit because of our greed. The more people indulge in cars, the unhealthier food they eat.
But some of us don't care. They cry about nuclear leaks from afar, but never think to stop driving a car.
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