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This file
photo shows a polluted river, once used for swimming by local youths,
in
Liukuaizhuang Village in Tianjin, southeast of Beijing, on March 16, 2006.
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China's
environment ministry has acknowledged the existence of "cancer
villages", several years after widespread speculation first began that
polluted areas were seeing a higher incidence of the disease.
The use of
the term in an official report, thought to be unprecedented, comes as
authorities face growing discontent over industrial waste, hazardous smog and
other environmental and health consequences after years of rapid development.
"Poisonous
and harmful chemical materials have brought about many water and atmosphere
emergencies... certain places are even seeing 'cancer villages'," said a
five-year plan that was highlighted this week.
The report
did not elaborate on the phenomenon, which has no technical definition but
gained prominence in domestic and foreign media after a Chinese journalist
posted a map in 2009 pinpointing dozens of such "cancer villages".
But the
ministry acknowledged that in general China uses "poisonous and harmful
chemical products" that are banned in developed countries and "pose
long-term or potential harm to human health and the ecology".
Environmental
lawyer Wang Canfa, who runs an aid centre in Beijing for victims of pollution,
said Friday it was the first time the "cancer village" phrase had
appeared in a ministry document.
"It
shows that the environment ministry has acknowledged that pollution has led to
people getting cancer," he said. "It shows that this issue, of
environmental pollution leading to health damages, has drawn attention."
A ministry
official who declined to be named could not confirm whether it was the first
time it had used the phrase, but said it had previously acknowledged the
connection between the environment and human health.
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