More than ten villagers suffering from cancer death in the aluminum processing project in Taoyuan, Hunan

Taotang County, Changde City, Hunan Province, Pantang Town, Handan Town, and Yiqiao Township are located in the hilly area and once was a beautiful ecological environment. In 2001, the Yongde Group Changde Industrial Park (Chuangyuan Aluminum), which occupies an area of ​​2,450 mu, started construction. High-pollution and high-energy-consuming projects such as rough processing of aluminum products were launched one after another. The construction of industrial parks, production at the border, and pollution control at the borders have caused irreparable damage to the local ecological environment. Some farmers who have lived in this generation have left their homes and become environmental immigrants.

Predicament in the protected area

On November 18, 2014, the reporter looked out on the road leading to Pantang Township. The towering drying towers and chimneys protruded from the emerald green hills and looked a little abrupt. The air was thick with a pungent odor.

Luantong Group Changde Industrial Park (hereinafter referred to as the Industrial Park) has been transformed into aluminum plants, anodes and power plants, and other subsidiaries since the first production line was put into production in April 2003. In May 2007, the second phase of the company's electrolytic aluminum expansion project started construction in the industrial park. The project's environmental assessment report proposed the last 65 meters of sanitary protection distance, and the furthest distance is 850 meters. There are still hundreds of residents and some farmland in this health protection zone. In October 2007, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the “Aluminium Industry Access Requirements”, which clarified that for areas requiring special protection and areas with high environmental quality requirements, within 1,000 meters of the company’s perimeter, the company’s health protection distance will be maintained.

The reporter randomly asked the residents on the eastern side of the plant area to be located in the protection area. They said that they were willing to relocate in the face of pollution. The town government also called for this and did not confirm the relocation time and compensation plan. Jiang Xinzhong, deputy director of the Administrative Committee of Taoyuan County Industrial Park, said in an interview with reporters that the environmental impact assessment was passed in 2007. Obviously, the compensation standards of the time cannot obviously be implemented. However, the new compensation standards need to be delayed after the re-enactment.

The characteristic pollutants emitted during the production of electrolytic aluminum - fluorides are 20 times more harmful to humans than sulfur dioxide, and the diffusion distance is long, which can lead to crop production reduction. The villager, 63-year-old Jin Jinsheng, pointed to the oyster shell (a medicinal material that resembles an orange) on the tree. He said: "All of them have changed. The fruit that was originally orange and the skin has formed a small tumor." The old man said that before In each harvest season, the fruit can bend branches, and the current results are less than one-third of the previous ones, and all are contaminated.

Pantang Town is rich in oranges and camellia oil. In the past, each family had to receive 4000-5000 pounds of oranges. Camellia oil is also quite popular. Since the factory was built and produced, the production of oranges has been greatly reduced. Camellia has only resulted in very few flowers. The cotton is also grey and cannot be sold at all.

Luo Zhongyi, deputy director of the Taoyuan County Environmental Protection Bureau, told reporters that the first production line was put into operation in April 2003, and the relevant environmental protection facilities were not perfect at the initial stage. The pollution was indeed serious and affected the surrounding planting industry. In 2005, the EPA had coordinated county agriculture and forestry departments to conduct pollution assessments on polluted areas. According to the assessment, the industrial park put up 600,000-700,000 yuan each year to provide pollution subsidies to surrounding villagers. At the same time, the government also mobilized residents within the sanitation protection perimeter of the factory area to relocate. Liu Hongjun, director of the Taoyuan County Environmental Protection Bureau, added that in 2004 and 2005, the industrial park invested more than 400 million yuan in pollution control.

A village surrounded by waste

In the valley between the towns of Gifu and Taoqiao in Taoyuan County, the cinder and ash produced by thermal power plants and toxic hazardous solid waste from the overhaul of electrolyzers were piled up.

Under the guidance of Zhu Fujun, the head of Lianyukou Village in Qinglong Village of Handan City, the reporter saw a hundred square meters of red stinking water. Zhu Fujun told reporters that these smelly waters were met by industrial solid waste in the upper reaches of the valley and were infiltrated. Sewage flowed along the valley and merged with a small stream, and was eventually brought into the Lancang River. Zhu Fujun said that villagers used to directly use streams to irrigate farmland. Since the large amount of upstream solid waste was piled up, the villagers used the water to water and found that the rice production was severely reduced, and crops such as vegetables were still alive.

Along the dam to the upper reaches of the valley, there are large and small pools of piles of coal ash and coal cinder. Most of the trees near the pool are dead and bleak.

At the end of the valley near the top of the hill, there are several acres of land surrounded by one-man high iron mesh and concrete cofferdams. At the entrance, there is a warning sign written with “toxic and hazardous waste” set up by Chuangyuan Aluminum (Changtong Group Changde Industrial Park). The landfill is filled with poisonous and dangerous solid waste from the overhaul of the electrolyzer. The pungent smell can be smelled when it is more than 20 meters away.

The “Approval for Application for Trial Operation of Hunan Chuangyuan Aluminum Industry Co., Ltd. Electrolytic Waste Landfill (Phase I) Project” issued by the Changde City Environmental Protection Bureau posted outside the railway network shows that the landfill was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency of Hunan Province in 2013 and completed. The storage capacity is 7,142 cubic meters.

The 60-year-old Liu Minghui’s home is separated from the waste landfill by a hillside, but it’s more than 200 meters away. He told reporters that there was no waste landfill in the past. This place is a hideaway. Now it’s a windy, dusty sky that covers the sun. Live, there are thick ash everywhere, air and land are polluted. He said that more than 80 people from more than 20 households in this area had previously been mobilized by the government to relocate. Half of them have already moved and half of them still stay. In 2008, Liu Minghui and two younger brothers raised 400,000 yuan and built a three-story building. The original people lived more than a dozen people. Later, because of serious pollution, the crops were almost impossible. They all went out to work. They lived here since childhood. They are now quite young, and they are reluctant to leave.

Even Yukoukou Village Officer Zhu Fujun told reporters that before the downstream Lianyukou Group had not heard of cancer, in the past few years the village had more than 100 people, and a dozen of them had died of cancer, and many others were in poor health. The whole body is sore and unable to find any disease. In response, Luo Zhongyi, deputy director of the Taoyuan County Environmental Protection Bureau, told the reporter that the EPA and the Bureau of Agriculture have taken note of this issue. Specially assigned personnel to investigate, crop production cuts, and villagers' illnesses should be caused by many comprehensive factors. It cannot be simply inferred because of upstream pollution. Luo Zhongyi said that in the past this place passed the environmental assessment. Some pollution problems were also problems left over from the initial stage of environmental protection.

The predicament of occupational patients

44-year-old Huang Yaofeng, who entered the company in February 2011, became a maintenance technician for the electrolysis cell in Chuangyuan Aluminum and was responsible for the upper maintenance of 438 electrolyzers in 4 plants.

Huang Yaofeng said that at that time, it was not known that strong radiation and fluoride in the working environment were harmful to the human body. It was also free to work overtime for 8 hours a day. In May 2012, Huang Yaofeng became ill and was examined by the hospital and found that the hips and spine were inflamed and continued to work after a short rest period. At the end of March 2013, Huang Yaofeng became sicker and basically lost his ability to work. He asked the factory for treatment and treatment. He said that during the visit to the hospital, the factory repeatedly advised him to resign.

The family took him around the country to seek medical treatment. Many hospitals diagnosed him as hydrogen fluoride poisoning and acquired severe fluorosis, which is a typical occupational disease. However, according to occupational disease diagnosis and appraisal methods, occupational diseases need to be diagnosed locally and treated locally. All local hospitals cannot meet the requirements. A written diagnosis report is issued.

On August 20th, 2014, the Occupational Disease Diagnosis and Appraisal Committee of the Hunan Provincial Department of Health made an assessment of the "observed object of industrial fluorine disease" based on the materials provided by Huang Yaofeng's family. According to the Occupational Disease Prevention Law and the Regulations on Work-related Injury Insurance, occupational-disease-observing subjects should also enjoy relevant treatment. The factory pays wages and related expenses and arranges patients for treatment and diagnosis.

"However, the factory has not been implemented so far," Huang Yaofeng said.

The reporter learned from a report from the 2010 Taoyuan Center for Disease Control and Prevention that the urinary fluorine monitoring and analysis of the employees of the Chuangyuan Aluminum Electrolysis Department reported that the urinary fluorine value of the electrolysis factory of the plant is high, and this year there are more than 200 people in the electrolysis workshop. More than 170 people exceeded the standard for fluoride. In accordance with relevant laws and regulations, employers who have occupational disease hazards shall truthfully inform workers of occupational diseases and their consequences, occupational disease prevention measures and treatment that may arise during the work process, and shall clearly indicate in the labor contract that they shall not conceal or deceive.

The reporter visited a number of employees who resigned from the factory. They all said that no one had told them these rights and had not done a physical examination.

On November 21, 2014, Liu Shuai, director of the Hunan Provincial People's Congress Environmental and Resources Protection Commission Supervision Department, was interviewed by the reporter. He said that the local area is a nature reserve and is also a big agricultural county, and the ecology is very good. Because the electrolytic aluminum industry is generally an industry with high energy consumption and heavy pollution, many experts disagreed with Chuangyuan Aluminum.

Liu Shuai said that the masses have repeatedly reflected the problem of pollution in the Chuangyuan Aluminum Industry, and the provincial and municipal environmental protection agencies have repeatedly supervised it. The plant has also invested several hundred million yuan to strengthen pollution control. According to reporters' understanding of the situation. Liu Shuai said that it will verify the situation and urge relevant departments to rectify the company according to law.