Cancer Villages

The correlation between cancer and water pollution

A World Bank report assessing the cost of pollution in China again identified cancer as
the main cause of death, showing also that mortality rates for cancers associated with water pollution, such as liver and stomach cancer, are well above the world average.
An Anthropology of ‘Cancer Villages’: villagers’ perspectives and the politics of responsibility
ANNA LORA-WAINWRIGHT
Link Title

Local Corruption

http://www.nddaily.com/sszt/watercrisis/ (accessed 21 November
2007).

a recent article examining three cancer villages (in Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang) published in Nanfang Wang as part of a report on water pollution, documents how villagers’ attempts at seeking redress failed due to insufficient evidence or through uncooperative officials bribed by
polluting industries.

in the growing rural–urban gap and continuing rural poverty, which entails the transfer of polluting
factories to poor areas.

Secondly, as is common, they attribute the problem to an emphasis on economic development without adequate attention to environmental
protection, and thirdly to local protectionism

NGOs

Farmers rely on rivers or shallow wells rather than tread pipe water

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Huang River Protector - Hunan low cost water filtration system

Greenpeace - Guangdong - convincing government for stronger regulation, like keeping track of hazardous wastes and to more systematically prevent manufacturers from dumping them into rivers and lakes.

water treatment business

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although the government fined and forced those polluted companies to treat their emissions, but the government failed to sophisiticated in its tracking of pollution.

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how to frame the action (in pursuit of clean water)

Poisoning the Pearl

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory program

p5, ministry

Huo Daishan - it would take so long to fix industrial contamination, so it's better to deliver safe drinking water and fix the pollution later.

Current situation

Huai River

p5, iin pursuit to clean water

the emissions of one polluters is not sufficient to make village water safe. Collect money to install slow-sand water filtration systems

not free, pay by funding

skeptical from prof: one needs to know what is wrong with the water to design an effective filtration system

Central and Local Government

central: nod - five year plan

p2: ministry of environment said: local government corporate with those polluted factories which were ordered to shut downby this ministry

conducted survey but didn't release the results / xinhua p3 cancer villages

KuiRviver Suzhou

academic researches

conducting survey is costly (p3 cancer villages

provinces authority on cleaning pollution (p4 cancer villages

The amount of wastewater discharged from larger, regulated industries has leveled off since the early 1990s due to an increase in the number and capacity of industrial wastewater treatment facilities. However, discharges from the numerous town and village enterprises (TVEs) and municipal sources are increasing rapidly and are causing extensive pollution of water bodies.（ China Cost of Pollution, 34 )

close relationship between water and health

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central government begins to track, 2016( china set up control)

central government law: more access to pollution data (pollution data unevenly across china; heman )

Jun Ma monitors the index