Friday, January 27, 2012

Longjiang River, China Contaminated By Carcinogenic Cadmium




The latest health scare to hit China has been with pollution of water. In the city of Hong Kong residents are being advised to only drink bottled water after news that cadmium, a highly toxic pollutant has been contaminating the local water. Government officials have tried to control the outbreak with a neutralizing chemical, but are unsure of how safe the water is currently. The source of the problem has been guessed as the toxic run off from industrial plants and factories. Despite all the pollution and health scares, environmental problems have taken a backseat to economic growth.

This article is a great article that has made a pretty big splash in the media. I think it is a good thing that this is making big news. Water pollution in China is not new. The largest jean factory in the world is located in China, and the daily dye used, pollutes the water outside the factory for hundreds of miles. The run off from factories in this case is making the local water un drinkable. This should be a big wake up call to the government that they need to enforce stricter water waste guidelines. Water pollution is serious business and it seems like China will never cease to care about how any of their mass production effects the environment. It will be interesting to see how this incident will make any difference in the way Hong Kong citizens react to environmental destruction. I hope that once they realize they cannot drink the water anymore, it is time to change the conditions and look for a solution.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/longjiang-river-china-contaminated_n_1233061.html

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