Poisoned town shunned as paranoia takes hold
Just as the deadly metals slowly seeped into the water and soil around Xianghe Chemical plant, so did the news of its devastating impact filter through to surrounding towns and villages.
The very name of the town at the centre of the scandal, Zhentou, has become toxic in its own right, creating a fresh wave of victims who cannot sell their produce, secure new jobs or even find love.
'Girls who are of an age to be married can no longer find husbands,' said a farmer from Shuangqiao village, site of the plant. 'Men can't get married either.'
Government health checks showed 509 of 2,888 people living within a 1.2-kilometre radius of the plant had high concentrations of indium and cadmium in their bodies, and scientists said their fields cannot be farmed for at least 60 years.
For five years the factory, which purportedly made animal feed but in fact produced indium - used in liquid crystal displays for electronic products - discharged untreated waste that leached into farmers' fields. The worst-affected villagers have been living on food and water trucked in from outside since May.
'I know a 21-year-old girl from Puhua village whose fiance turned her down after a man was found dead from the pollution,' the farmer said.
Li Songlin, another farmer from Shuangqiao, said a neighbour's son recently split with his girlfriend when she heard about the fatal contamination. 'The young man dated the girl for more than a year.'
A middle-aged woman from the village said: 'They think the heavy metal will remain in the bodies of these young people and produce an abnormal baby in the future. I guess no one would take such a risk when they have a choice.'
Mr Li said fellow villagers were facing other kinds of discrimination.
'Two of my friends from Puhua told me that they were rejected by a boss in Fujian when he learned that they came from Zhentou,' he said. 'We are like orphans who have been abandoned by the job market.'
Worse still, agricultural produce grown far from the plant is considered contaminated.
'People are demanding street vendors show their identity cards before they buy vegetables from them, to make sure they are not from Zhentou,' said the first farmer. 'When customers find they have bought produce from a Zhentou farmer, they come back to get a refund or simply throw the vegetable away.'
A vendor from Jianbei, the town next to Zhentou, confirmed the unpopularity of Zhentou produce.
'Quite a number of customers ask where my vegetables come from. This has never happened in 11 years,' said Li Lingbo , 44.
Ms Li said Jianbei residents would not dare eat anything from Zhentou. She said her husband had trucked her carrots, radishes, onions, ginger, potatoes and cabbages from the provincial capital, Changsha , overnight.
