VietNamNet Bridge – Local residents cannot count exactly how many people have died of
cancer, but they have assured that the death toll is hundreds of people in the
last 10 years.
Dao Van
Manh, Head of Tu Lac Village in Minh Tan commune, said that local residents
have to live in “mouse holes” with windows and doors shut tightly to prevent
from dust from cement plants.
Manh
has to sweep the roof and the floor every day and he can collect “one basket of
dust.”
He said
that local residents have to experience the most terrible days in spring, when
it is wet, and dust cannot go far away and drop into the village’s path. The
wet atmosphere, plus the dust and smoke suffocate Tu Lac Village’s people.
When
asked about the “culprits” that cause smoke and dust, Manh said that they are
cement and kaolin plants, shipbuilding yards and stone exploitation
enterprises.
“They
dig the earth, destroy the mountains, crush stones to make profit, bringing
diseases to local people,” he complained.
Tran
Van Thien, Head of the Minh Tan commune’s healthcare center, also said that the
pollution has become serious. Though his home is not far from the healthcare
center, his clothes always turn white when he goes to the office.
When
asked about the people’s health, Thien said many people have died of cancer in
Kinh Mon district, but most of the dead lived in Minh Tan commune.
The “death book”
In Tu
Lac Village, Nguyen Van Nguyen has been well-known as the “man who does
statistical work about the number of people who died of cancer. The noteworthy
thing is that many of the people died prematurely.
Nguyen
has a “death book” which showed the names, the addresses and the diseases of
the dead. In 2001, five people died of cancer in Tu Lac, including three people
who died at the age of 38-40. Especially, a man died of throat cancer at the
age of 20.
In the
latest years, people died younger. Phuong, a girl, died at the age of 20.
Trinh, also a girl, died of blood cancer when she was following university
education. Minh died when he was 17, a high school student, because of the
throat cancer. Ly died when she was 20 and was going to get married.
The
book shows that the number of people who died of cancer is much higher than the
number of people who died of the old age or of other diseases. Dat and Bam, the
husband and the wife, both died in 2006 because of cancer.
Thien,
the head of the healthcare center estimates that about 20 people die of cancer
every year. However, he admitted that the figure may not truly reflect the real
situation, and that the number of deaths is higher.
Thien
surprised people when he denied the fact that most of dead people lived in Tu
Lac village. He said that the highest number of dead people lived in Bich Nhoi
and Ha Chieu hamlets, located in the west of the Hoang Thach cement plant. This
means that the number of deaths in Tu Lac Village, which is called the “all
dead” village, makes nothing if compared with the two hamlets.
Meanwhile,
the representative of Hoang Thach Cement Plant has affirmed that the volume of
dust discharged to the air is always below the allowed level. He also said that
the plant is examined every year by competent agencies which confirm that the
plant has been following necessary procedures in waste treatment.
What
causes the high percentage of deaths in recent years, then? The question
remains unanswered.
Source:
VTC
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