Consequences of environmental blame

Recently, the name ' cancer village ' appears more and more, from the first ' cancer village ' discovered in Thach Son (Phu Tho), to Dong Lo - Ung Hoa (Ha Tay), and then Hai Phong and continue to grow up in Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa . This situation makes public opinion very concerned and concerned. Never, from North to South, cancer of evil monsters appeared so much. Why has this situation?

Environmental pollution: " Companion " of cancer

The stale and stale black water from Tra Noc Industrial Zone (Can Tho City) directly flows into Sang Trang canal, affecting the lives of many households around this industrial park (Photo: Nhat Chanh).

According to the Ministry of Health, there are nearly 200,000 newly diagnosed cancer patients every year. Particularly, Hanoi K Hospital, one of the leading centers for treating this disease in the country, has received an average of 150,000 newly diagnosed cancer patients each year and 70,000 people have died of this disease (nationwide).

The cause of cancer is increasing, according to the general assessment of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, which is due to the deteriorating living environment. And the culprit causing this situation is none other than people with the sense of protecting the environment is too weak. Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Thach Son commune (Phu Tho), one of the leading communes in the country in terms of the number of deaths in the past 10 years (137 people died of cancer), giving See: Most water sources in all dug wells here have lead content exceeding the permitted level. A number of vegetable samples next to Pyrits slag yards of the adjacent Lam Thao Chemical Company have arsenic content exceeding the permissible limit many times .

Many scientists also confirmed that the ' cancer village ' appears more and more due to degraded living environment. The reason is due to many places racing to build massively industrial zones (IPs), export processing zones (EPZs), industrial clusters (CCNs), which have not taken into account the problem of environmental pollution as well as prizes. France to limit this situation. Currently, there are hundreds of IPs and EPZs nationwide. Thanks to the IPs and EPZs, the economic growth of the whole country in general and of each locality in particular has had a miraculous leap. However, it was also the release of the above mentioned IPs and EPZs, with the use of too many solvents and toxic chemicals without measures to treat environmental pollution that made the water source and air day. the more seriously polluted. In addition, the indiscriminate and arbitrary use of chemicals in cultivation and husbandry also affects products and water pollution.

In this regard, Dr.-BS Nguyen Duy Bao - Deputy Director of the Institute of Labor Medicine and Environmental Hygiene (Ministry of Health) - warned: ' In industrial zones , the risk of cancer is high due to the use of Use new chemicals without paying attention to environmental pollution '. It is important to underestimate the environmental impacts that last from year to year, so that the waste gradually seeps into the ground, causing the water environment pollution, the soil environment is increasingly heavy, affecting the life and health of the people. Meanwhile, in the industrialized countries like Japan, from the 1950s of the last century, bitter lessons were learned due to the overheating of economic development without focusing on the environment. Consequently, many serious diseases such as cancer increase and the cost to remedy this situation is very high, many times higher than the amount of money to prevent from the beginning.

Industrial zones - EPZ-CCN are growing more and more, associated with environmental pollution due to toxic chemicals, also environmental pollution due to dust and smoke. It can be said that at any big city or IZ-CCN-EPZ in the whole country, the first scene that many people easily encounter is the stifling, unpleasant dust and smoke. This is also a clear difference in economic development in general, development of urban areas and industrial zones and EPZs in our own compared to developed countries. If there is a concept of ' living with floods ' in the Mekong Delta, now in many cities, many IPs and ICs - EPZs have many people who have been living day by day, ' living with dust and pollution '. (!) As recommended by medical experts, if IZs-ICs-EPZs, production facilities do not pay attention to the treatment of pollution, there will be more ' cancer villages ' coming here. country.

Arsenic: " Dangerous culprit "

Environmental pollution caused by toxic chemicals from industrial parks, factories, production facilities; Smog in urban areas is being considered as one of the causes of increasing cancer. In addition, there is a very dangerous threat in the villages where the situation of underground water sources for living and irrigation is increasingly polluted with arsenic (arsenic) exceeding the permitted level.

According to Mr. Le Huynh Bac, Deputy Director of the Department of Water Environment Management (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), arsenic status in groundwater has been concerned by a Vietnamese scientist as a doctoral thesis defense topic. science since 1993, when surveying groundwater systems in the south of Hanoi city. Next, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recognizes that the geological characteristics of Vietnam are quite similar to Bangladesh - where arsenic has caused a terrifying health disaster for humans, and there have been recommendations for them. me. But do not understand for whatever reason this recommendation is not focused by the authorities.

When cancer appears more and more in the villages, but the main factor is the source of water contaminated with arsenic is quite heavy, many scientists have started conducting the survey. The results of the recent survey show that arsenic pollution is currently quite common in all the North - Central - South regions. However, the Southern and Northern Delta regions are the most severely infected. Only Ho Chi Minh City has yet to officially determine whether arsenic is present in groundwater.

However, since arsenic contamination in domestic water is not widely available, most people do not know and have used polluted water for a long time, increasing the risk of disease, including cancer because of arsenic poison. As recommended by scientists, the best way to prevent disease and cancer is to bring water samples every year before using them to centers and competent agencies to request testing of water samples 2 - 3 times. But that is not a simple thing. For urban residents, this job may not be difficult, but for many rural residents this is a difficult requirement to implement. Thinking, the commune and ward People's Committees should be responsible for taking one or two batches of samples of water in the area where they live to bring them to the testing agencies, in order to soon detect toxic agents, say Health protection for people.

In the longer term, in order not to happen the ' cancer villages ' as currently, the best way is that the whole society must fully realize and strictly implement the environmental protection work. Specifically, do not use indiscriminate chemicals in production and breeding; do not discharge toxic chemicals into the environment; process of treating waste and wastewater according to standards; actively improve the living environment by planting many green trees . If not implementing these solutions in a synchronous way, the living environment will be worse when we are accelerating the process of industrialization and urbanization. . The cancer and the ' cancer villages ' will grow even more. That is an unacceptably expensive price during development.

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