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Small cmmunity suffers big cancer rate
(Beijing Today)
Updated: 2004-10-08 14:31
Last Thursday, the long–awaited climate–monitoring
system from the Shenzhen Environmental Bureau finally rolled into Gangwan
suggesting that the local gornment has begun investigating the environmental
hazards reported by local residents from the cancer-ridden community.
Smoke billows from
a Mawan Power House chimney. [YNET] |
The cancer report
Eight–year–old He Chaoow lies in a hospital bed fighting cancer. On July 15
he was diagnosed with leukemia. His doctor told Nanfang Daily, a Guangdong-based
newspaper, that the patient had to face several rounds of chemotherapy and that
his liver, kidneys and other organs would be greatly damaged during the process.
A masked father watches over his sick child in
hospital. [YNET] | Even if the chemotherapy is a
success, He will have to undergo a marrow transplant, which has a 50–percent
success rate.
He was born in Gangwan community, a living compound for employees of Nanshan
Development Group in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, where his parents work.
According to Zhu, vice-president of the group's trade union, the number
of cancer patients in Gangwan community is significant. "The are six adults and
children with leukemia, and five of them got it in the past six years," she
said.
Zhu's records show that, altogether, 20 employees who work for the group have
been diagnosed with cancer since 1998
The percentage of cancer patients is also surprisingly high in Chiwan
village, which is adjacent to Gangwan community. There are seven cancer patients
in this small village, which has less than 3,000 people.
Wu Li is 46 years old and had just retired from Nanshan Group, was the only
one to survive after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
She has been living in the village for more than 20 years. In 2002, Wu's
sister-in-law, also from Gangwan community, died of gastric cancer. According to
hospital records, neither Wu nor her sister-in-law carried the cancer gene.
Doubt haunts residents
Among the 27 cancer
patients in Gangwan community and Chiwan village, 16 were diagnosed with cancer
from 1998 to 2004 - twice as many cases compared to the 1985-97 period.
The increasing
number of cancer patients has disturbed the peace in Gangwan
community. Many local residents believe the region's environment has been affected by
the nearby Mawan Power House, Yueliangwan Power House, Nanshan Solid Waste Incneration Factory, Float
Glass Factory and Nanhai Oils & Fats Factory.
Lu, director of the Gangwan Community Property Management Committee,
said the residents opposed the construction of these factories from the very
beginning. When the first chimney of the Mawan Power House was erected in the
1990s, the residents wrote a letter to protest.
However, their objections did not stop the construction. Instead, residents
were forced to get accustomed to the environmental changes. Most residents are
used to closing their windows and, according to Lu, some 100 households have
moved to other districts.
Xiao Congmin, a local resident of Gangwan community, outlined his living
compound to Nanfang Daily: "Our community lies n a plain surrounded by
mountains. Whenever the nearby factories discharge wastes, the wind will blow
the smoke here."
According to a survey of 50 residents in Gangwan community conducted by
Nanfang Daily, 52 percent said they believed the environment was becoming worse
and almost one-half cited air pollution as a contributing factor.
The cause
Local residents doubt that environmental
change is the culprit for the cancer. But Shenzhen medical experts cannot
furnish a definite answer.
Experts at the Chinese Medical Association,
Shenzhen branch, told Nanfang Daily that there are so many factors affecting the
environment, and that genetics and lifestyle could have contributed to the
cancer. Regarding the incidence of cancer in Gangwan community, they said "it is
difficult to assert a conclusion. We have to go there to investigate."
The Shenzhen Disease Prevention and Control Center is more concrete,
saying it is abnormal for a community to have so many cancer patients in such a
short period of time. The national incidence of leukemia is only three in
10,000.
Since most cancer patients have lived in Gangwan community for more than 10
years, medical experts from the Disease Prevention and Control Center say there
may be so many cancer patients in Guangwan community due to environmental
degradation and lifestyle.
The
monitors' results
Zhang Jun, director of the Environmental Monitoring
Station on duty in Gangwan community, told Nanfang Daily: "We have analyzed
some data and the results proved that the air (in Gangwan) is quite abnormal,
especially the contents of SO2." However, he emphasized that the data was
only a preliminary assessment that needed expert approval. At present, the
monitoring systems cannot monitor dioxins.
Local residents welcomed the
monitoring initiatives. Many came up to the work station and asked when they
would receive the results, expressing hope that the government would help them
improve the polluted air.
Proposal from the People's Congress
On September 20,
11 members of the Shenzhen People's Congress submitted a proposal to the
government or improving the environment in Gangwan community and surrounding
regions.
They claimed that in 2002 the minimum pollution index in the community stood
at 18 and the maximum reached 165. There were only 144 days with a pollution
index below 50. The major pollutants found in the regions' air were CO2,
nitrogen oxides, dust and waste.
The members pointed out that the reason for the degraded environment in Gangwan
community was due to the incompatibility of government decisions.
At the beginning of the 1980s, the
city planned to build a "polluted area" in Nanshan District, where Guangwan community
is located, installing powerhouses and other factories the region.
However, in the
1990s, the city decided to build more residence compounds in the district, which
resulted in a clash of factories and living communities.
Furthermore, they suggested the government carry out
a thorough investigation of the environmental situation in Nanshan District and
devise a plan to either relocate the factories or reduce harmful
wastes.
They also urged the government
to work with other departments, such as environmental protection, finance, land
resources and energy, to conduct a comprehensive management to address the
problem.
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