PRC Admits Existence Of Cancer Villages; Massive Soil Contamination Will Take Decades To Clear

In the villages around Baiyin City experts believe the problem is not cancer, but heavy metal poisoning. No official explanation exists for the mysterious leg pains but studies have detected unusually high levels of lead, copper and cadmium in the region’s ground and crops.

“Of course soil pollution is related to the pain we suffer,” said Wei Kongyin, 55, one of the few Minqin residents to make a direct link to pollution. He plunged his hand into the river-back and brandished a palm-full of dark earth. “Just look at the soil! It is black, brown and reddish-purple. It should be light yellow!”

While air pollution makes greater headlines, some now believe soil pollution poses an even greater risk to China’s economy and population. Substances such as arsenic, lead, mercury, copper and cadmium have contaminated as much as 10 per cent of farmland, according to some estimates. China’s Ministry of Land and Resources has placed the total annual economic cost at around £2billion with some 12 million tons of grain contaminated each year.

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“Plants died instantly if you used canal water on them,” recalled Wu Zhunjun, a 60-year-old resident. “The canal must have been contaminated with sulfuric acid,” he speculated. One local claimed sheep that grazed on nearby land had suddenly lost their teeth. Mr Wei, a local farmer, said locals had often tasted the “black and brown” water before using it on their crops. “It would make our tongues so numb we could hardly speak,” he said.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9890119/Chinas-countrymen-struggling-with-a-sick-Mother-Earth.html