Growing Public Unrest Leads China To Admit To 'Cancer Villages'

eldavojohn writes "A new report from China's environment ministry has resulted in long-overdue self-realizations as well as possible explanations for 'cancer villages.' The term refers to villages (anywhere from 247 to 400 known of them) that have increased cancer rates due to pollution from nearby factories and industry. The report revealed that many harmful chemicals that are prohibited and banned in developed nations are still found in China's water and air. Prior research has shown a direct correlation between industrialization/mining and levels of poisonous heavy metals in water. As a result, an air pollution app has grown in popularity and you can see the pollution from space. China has also released a twelve-year plan for environmental protection."

Comments

Typo Last Sentence

[Anonymous Coward]

China has also released a twelve-year plan for environmental protection.

Should read:

China has also released their twelfth five-year plan for environmental protection.

My apologies!

Industrial revolution standard procedure

[Gabrill]

I've maintained for years that China, Mexico, and similar countries going though industrial booms are simply in early stages of industrial revolution. Next we shall see environmental, wage, and health reforms, as these countries realize the need for sustainable management of their labor base.

Re:Industrial revolution standard procedure

[DFurno2003]

When can we begin shipping our politicians their way?

Re:Industrial revolution standard procedure

[ColdWetDog]

Didn't you read Gabrill's post? They are trying to cut DOWN on pollutants.

Re:Industrial revolution standard procedure

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Then again, other than freaks like Thoreau, most Americans weren't out hugging trees at the beginning of our Industrial Revolution either.

Bingo. This idea that "asian culture" is so different from "western culture" is just intellectually lazy. Sure there are differences, but fundamentally people are people, they all want the same stuff - food, air, water, sex, sleep, security, health, family, respect, creativity, etc.

The sort of reforms we saw that came in on the western industrial revolution aren't culturally specific, they are human-specific. The implementations will surely vary along with the timelines, but the end result will be the same because if it does not get to a similar point of satisifying universal human needs, it will collapse because the humans won't tolerate it indefinitely.

Re:Industrial revolution standard procedure

[icebike]

I've maintained for years that China, Mexico, and similar countries going though industrial booms are simply in early stages of industrial revolution. Next we shall see environmental, wage, and health reforms, as these countries realize the need for sustainable management of their labor base.

Actually, they are in the LATE stages of the industrial revolution (as any casual use of Google Earth would reveal). They are entering that state where increased disposable income and increased levels of education cause individual citizens making purchasing choices that drive the economy in a direction of more open-ness, more freedom, and more environmental responsibility. These people enter government and start working toward taking care of the environment.

Progress is slow, but this is exactly the predicted pattern that has been seen all over the world as prosperity and education increase, people start taking better care of their environment, investments, and themselves. Much of the west went thru this in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. You rarely hear of smog alerts in the US any more. They used to be common and long lasting in the past. You actually see clear skylines over most cities these days. Hell, even the Hudson river is recovering.

Lest we become hypocrites...

[Anachragnome]

Lest we become hypocrites...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory

China will soon have a plan for clean-up...

[swschrad]

as soon as they hack the EPA.

Low low Walmart prices

[Tailhook]

We are feathering our environmental nest at home and stocking our shelves from unregulated hell holes.

At some point this evacuation of our industrial base to China will emerge as a moral issue. It's already an employment issue for the working class and a fiscal issue for the nation, but neither of those seem to comfortable office people and the ruling class.

Maybe the shame of all this will.

Importing from regimes that do not have equivalent regulatory rigor is exploitation.

Re:Seen from space = BS

[WilliamGeorge]

You can't see clean air from space - it is clear. You can see heavily polluted air, though. The idea is that there are so many pollutants that the effect is visible on a large scale - you can see where it is heavier and where it is lighter (or completely not present, though I suspect little of China's populated area has truly clean air).

12 year plan leaked!

[Dunbal]

It says "In twelve years there will be no environment left to protect. So carry on"

Still waiting..

[Daetrin]

Where's the explanation on how the free market is going to fix this problem without the need for burdensome regulation? Anyone? Anyone?

Re:Still waiting..

[chrylis]

Because I just can't resist feeding trolls, a free market is dependent on property rights. In a free market, those whose air, water, or land was polluted could take the polluters to court, and in fact government protection of polluters has been a consistent feature in wide-scale environmental problems.