Bad sign when government no longer cares about citizens
China’s environment ministry has admitted that “cancer villages” exist in the country, after years of foreign and domestic media outlets drawing attention to the harmful, localized effects of pollutants on the populace.
“Poisonous and harmful chemical materials have brought about many water and atmosphere emergencies; . . . certain places are even seeing ‘cancer villages,’” according to a 5-year plan from the ministry that was released last week. It was the first time that a Chinese government agency has admitted to the presence of “cancer villages”—a term first introduced by a journalist highlighting the existence of the disease hot spots by publishing a map in 2009. Many of the cities and towns on the map stand in the shadows of chemical plants or on the shores of polluted waterways.
The new document “shows that the environment ministry has acknowledged that pollution has led to people getting cancer,” environmental lawyer Wang Canfa, who runs an aid centre in Beijing to help victims of pollution, told the Agence France-Presse news agency. “It shows that this issue, of environmental pollution leading to health damages, has drawn attention.”
And also consider this column: Obama officials refuse to say if assassination power extends to US soil – the fact that they refuse to say pretty conclusively indicates that they plan to act as though it does.
