Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumIn 2008 60% Of Rice Samples In 3 Provinces Contaminated W. Cadmium; Cancer Villages Still Producing
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Five years ago, a soil survey taken from rice in three of Chinas largest agricultural provinces shocked Chinese consumers. Sixty percent of the rice samples showed excessive amounts of cadmium, a heavy metal that causes bone and kidney damage. At the time, Chinese scientists openly discussed the widespread contamination of Chinas food supply. But these days, theyre not talking. Several scientists declined interviews with Marketplace. Thats because late last year, Chinas communist party declared national soil surveys state secrets.
Revealing Chinas state secrets can send you to prison. American scientist Peter Green says in the case of Chromium-6, which polluted the soil in Xinglong Village, its undoubtedly been absorbed by the rice grown there. "Rice, like all plants, takes up water from its roots," Green says, "and Chromium-6 hexavalent chromium is very soluble in water, and will get into the plants. And thats unfortunate, because it can get into the food chain and be eaten by humans or perhaps other animals.
Back in Xinglong village, the 300-million-pound hill of Chromium-6 waste is now gone. The company that created it, LuLiang Peace Technology, removed the waste a few months ago.
But farmer Wu Shuliang says his well water is still contaminated. I ask him to show me. Wu grabs a 10-foot long stick and dips it down into the well. When he pulls it up, the end of the stick is covered with a thick, mustard-yellow chemical sludge. Marketplace contacted LuLiang Peace Technology, and the factory manager, Mr. Qian, spoke to us. After we told him we were a news organization, he hung up and didnt answer any more calls. The local government also ignored Marketplaces repeated requests for interviews.
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http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/chinas-toxic-harvest-growing-tainted-food-cancer-villages
mother earth
(6,002 posts)simply criminal.
cprise
(8,445 posts)XemaSab
(60,212 posts)before the population starts to decline due to pollution.
Either overtly through miscarriages and early deaths, or just through people not wanting to raise kids in the middle of Mordor.
Nihil
(13,508 posts)... i.e., like they do at the moment but at an increased scale ...
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)I am sure popular protests will slowly force the Chinese government to institute pollution controls just as they did here in the US, but in the meantime, a lot of people will suffer.
The company referenced RE the Chromium makes feed additives and VITAMINS, among other things:
http://peacetech.en.alibaba.com/company_profile.html
An increasingly large part of the cost differential between manufacturing in the US and manufacturing in China are the anti-pollution requirements in the US since wages have increased so much. I think the Chinese government is afraid to impose too much control for fear that it would overburden a weakening economy.
This is why I want nothing to do with most Chinese products. They themselves don't know what's in them.