? f 1 *
»M , p > n * ?
MV’
• J J / M A
Feb. 2, 2007
www.guilfordian.com
WORLD&NATION
Page 7
Greensboro. N.C.
Industry causes ’cancer villages’ downstream
Landry Haarmann | Staff Writer
In China, 320 people drink
polluted water everyday. This
polluted water is killing off
crops and turning flora-rich riv
er towns into "cancer villages."
The increased rates of can
cer come from sources unseen
in these little towns, which are
home to rice patty fields and ag
riculture. The source is located
upstream in areas where heavy
mining and industry have al
lowed heavy metals to run into
the rivers.
The water, carried down
stream, is used by the village lo
cals for irrigating their crops and
drinking.
Associate Professor of politi
cal science George Guo said can
cer is the result of lax policy and
economic drive.
"Power was given to the local
government, giving them flex
ibility (and) resulting in these
provinces trying to attract inves
tors," Guo said. "The local gov
ernments lowered rent, lowered
taxes and lowered standards to
attract investment."
.a:
ECONOMIST.COM
Pollution pours into the atmosphere from factories in a village in northern Guangdong province
Sophomore Mike Sexton
thinks there is a catch-22 to the
issue.
"These villages exist due in
part to the government stripping
the land of trees and mining,"
Sexton said. "The government
is doing this to support their
people; and if they don't, people
may die."
These cancer villages are not
something new^ BBC News re
ported 250 people from Shang-
ba's population of 3,000 have
died of cancer since 1987. How
ever, BBC noted the factoid was
found in a Chi
nese newspaper
and that statistics
in China are often
unreliable.
Guo, who vis
ited the Chinese
countryside in
2005, said, "The
place I visited is
still remote, still
poor, and there
were chemical
factories there."
A chemical fac
tory owner even
told Guo that ’
these chemicals
were cancer-caus
ing agents.
Sophomore
Maria Kupper
feels the govern
ment should be
held responsible.
"The govern
ment should pay
iW
the medical bills of
the people who feel
sick and should bet
ter regulate the water
and clean it," Kupper
said.
Many of the vic
tim's families, like
Shangba native Wang
Van, who lost both
her husband and
mother to cancer last
year, cannot pay for
the medical bills.
"The disease de
stroyed them," Yan
told BBC News.
"They just got weaker
and weaker untihthey
couldn't go on any
longer. Now I am left
here trying to get by
as best I can and look
after the children."
He Shouming,
an official from Shangba's local
Communist Party, said to BBC
News, "I have one family of
three young children who have
lost their mother and father. Our
rice crops have failed because of
the polluted water. What am I
supposed to do? We can't afford
to move, so we are stuck here."
Sophomore Kenza Hadj-
Moussa feels the government
should have regulated the mines
better.
"It's every government's role
to regulate what they put into
the environment, especially
when the repercussions are so
evident," Hadj-Moussa said.
mu
chinadaily.com
CITIZENS FROM THE CANCER VILUGE OF JiANGSU
According to BBC News, the
government has pledged to bring
clean water to 160 million farm
ers by 2010, leaving many more
with polluted water.
The pollution is still ongoing,
noticeable from a thick red resi
due at the edge of Shangba river-
banks, according to BBC News.
"Cleaning it up will take years
and really we have a huge job on
our hands," said scientist Chen
Nengchang, who found that riv
ers had high levels of metal, to
BBC News. "We have managed
to get the authorities to supply
clean drinking water, but there's
still a long way to go."
Potomac male smallmouth bass have eggs
Kevin Bryan | Staff Writer
Male smallmouth bass do not normally
create eggs. The United States Geological
Study recently found that 80-100 percent of
male bass in the Potomac watershed create
eggs or have other intersexed characteris
tics.
In 2003, this percentage was only 25-50
percent. The male smallmouth bass are be
coming intersexed. An intersexed fish has
the genitals of one sex and attributes of an
other sex.
USGS and the Fish and Wildlife Service
have found the cause to be endocrine dis
rupters. "Endocrine disrupters are a class
of pollutants that are hormonally active,
can compete or augment hormonal activity
... minute concentrations can cause prob
lems.'' said Angie Moore, assistant profes
sor of geology.
Intersexing of animals caused by endo
crine disrupters was first noticed with the
Lake Apopka alligators. Lake Apopka was
a Superfund sight after being contaminated
by high levels of DDT and other chemicals.
After cleanup, all but trace amounts of
those chemicals had been removed. Those
trace amounts of chemicals caused changes
in the developmental growth of alligators
in the region.
The cause of change in the Apopka alli
gators was readily apparent. Finding which
chemical is causing the intersexing of the
Potomac bass is more difficult. In October,
USGS released a list of 75 possible endo
crine disrupters affecting the smallmouth
bass.
The list includes pharmaceuticals, fertil
izers, steroids, industrial chemicals, plastics
and insecticides including DDT. It could be
individual chemicals causing problems,
or it could be mixtures of these chemicals.
"The amounts can be detected, but it's very
small, how much and when the fish have to
be exposed is unknown" said Professor of
biology Chuck Smith.
All of these chemicals are found at high
enough levels in the Potomac and in other
rivers worldwide to conceivably have an ef
fect. Many of the chemicals are not released
into the water through carelessness. Phar
maceuticals, both those given to humans
and livestock, commonly pass through the
body and eventually into the water.
The level of chemicals in the Potomac
is considered safe for humans, but many
of the chemicals have not been tested on
humans, and their long term effects are un
known.
The National Children's Study believes
that children may be affected. "It is hypoth
esized that in utero and early childhood
exposures to EDs may be responsible, at
least in part, for decreases in semen quality,
increasing incidence of congenital malfunc
tions of the reproductive organs ... increase
of testicular cancer, and acceleration of on
set of puberty in females."
Further tests are being done, both to
identify which chemicals are causing the
changes in male smallmouth bass and what
possible effects they could have on humans.
Most of the endocrine disrupters being
studied mimic estrogen. Extensive study
on the effects of mimicked testosterone or
progesterone, or the intersexing of female
fish, has not been done.
FWS.GOV
Intersexed fish are studied by scientists