Funeral of Victim of Heavy Metal Pollution in China

Xiang Lisheng (alias), 48-year-old, from Laowangzhai village, suffering advanced liver cancer, died in the evening of July 19th.
Xiang’s family organised a funeral following the Miao ethnicity tradition.
Laowangzhai village is located in an area with extensive lead and zinc mining activities, causing dangerously high levels of soil and water pollution. The population has experienced severe health impacts as a result of heavy metal exposure, like Xiang Lisheng with his liver.

In original language:

病逝村民的葬礼

2017年7月19日晚，向立升去世，家人按照苗族的传统发丧。

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Impacts of Toxic Waste from Heavy Metal Mining on Local Population in Hunan Province, China

A documentation showing the severe health impacts of heavy metal mines on the local population in Hunan province.
In May 2017, Greenpeace East Asia was informed about a case of severe soil pollution across five neighboring villages in Hunan Province, China. Hunan is China’s largest rice producer, but the province’s fertile rice paddies are interspersed with heavy metal mines, a combination that has led to dangerously high levels of soil pollution.
Yet available information about the extent of soil pollution in Hunan is limited.
Two decades of lead and zinc mining in these five villages has taken a major toll. The population of the villages, most of who are ethnically Miao, has experienced severe health impacts as a result of heavy metal exposure.
Eighty to 90 percent of the population in these five villages has kidney stones, and, each year, an average of 40 additional patients suffer from uremia, a complication of chronic kidney disease. In 2014, blood lead levels of all but one child tested in the villages exceeded the national standard.
In response, residents petitioned the local government and were seen blocking trucks heading to and from the mine to ask for compensation.
Greenpeace East Asia tested soil samples from the area. For the majority of samples, cadmium, arsenic, lead and zinc exceeded the national standard. Rice samples also tested above the national standard for chromium and lead, and, in several cases, arsenic. A more detailed breakdown of the results is available.

Related Collections:

Lead and Zinc Mine Tailing Ponds Surrounding Villages in Hunan Province, China

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Unique identifier: GP0STRBRU

Type: Image

Shoot date: 24/07/2017

Locations: Asia, China, East Asia, Hunan

Size: 5760px × 3840px 13.75 MB

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)