Cancer village in China

Xiong Demin may never have imagined that the mine where he worked for the past 32 years could cause hundreds of villagers to be poisoned, and cause both his and his wife to have cancer.

Xiong, 71, is a retired mechanic who worked for a mine in Heshan village in Hunan province. Xiong and his wife Wen Jin'e all have cancer, which is affected by arsenic pollution caused by majestic mining and processing activities , a mineral that combines sulfur and arsenic.

"She and I wake up every day just to die. We can't do anything, there's no hope , " Mr. Xiong said, taking off his outer shirt to reveal cancer injuries on his abdomen. , back and legs.

Tumors on the hands of a Qin Zhengyu, a skin cancer patient in Heshan village.(Photo: Reuters)

Mr. Xiong used to undergo a skin cancer surgery in 2012, then was diagnosed with lung cancer. A year earlier, Ms. Wen, who often used polluted river water for washing, was found to have skin cancer.

The couple received 10,000 yuan (about 1,600 USD) from the local government for medical treatment. However, this amount is not even enough to pay for a course of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. To treat the disease, grandparents had to use up their savings for many years. Because of inability to pay for inpatient treatment, Mr. and Mrs. Xiong still live in an inexpensive two-storey house.

Like many other young men in the village, Mr. Xiong's son and daughter have left the village to avoid the risk of pollution and cancer.

Arsenic and inorganic arsenic compounds are often used to produce herbicides, wood preservatives and applications in the metallurgical industry. According to the World Health Organization, they are classified as dangerous chemicals and cause cancer in humans at organs such as skin, lungs or bladder.

Chemical and mining plants have mushroomed in rich areas around Heshan village since the 1950s. Since 2001, these plants have been closed and shut down due to pollution. serious. However, smoke and the effects of arsenic are still present, destroying crops and causing harm to humans.

Gong Zhaoyuan, 69, has skin lesions and pimples.He is one of many people in the village suffering from skin cancer.

In 2010, 167 people of Heshan village died of cancer, the effects of arsenic pollution; 190 others have cancer from the same cause. Villagers wrote petition letters to local authorities, asking for compensation and support.

According to Ms. Wen, the test results at the end of last year showed that more than 200 people in the village had positive results for arsenic. An official named Tan at the local management agency declined to comment when interviewed by phone.

In the research data from the 1990s, arsenic concentrations in the mine area near Heshan were 15 times higher than the Chinese government's agricultural safety standard. Rice cannot grow and grow because of high levels of arsenic in the water. Rainwater causes soil erosion and many types of pollutants to enter the field, making many other crops unable to survive.

"We will only wait until we can. We don't have much money to pay for the medicine. I bought some sleeping pills. I just don't want to die so painfully when something comes. " Ms. Wen said.

China has many villages called cancer villages, mainly due to the effects of industrial chemical pollution. The government affirmed its willingness and dedication in environmental protection activities. However, taxes on polluting factories are often their main source of income.