Dangerous elements
Yi Xiaomao has tears in her eyes as she talks about the final days of her daughter, Bingjie, who died in 2008, one day before her sixth birthday, partly from cadmium poisoning. The sparse living room is furnished with just a small table, a few wooden stools and an old television. On a wall are posters of a smiling Mao Zedong and the God of Wealth.
The table is piled high with medical reports, laboratory results and legal documents related to Bingjie's case. A written court verdict indicates the family was awarded 6,037 yuan (HK$7,260) for the girl's death. The family has not claimed the money.
Yi sits on a small wooden chair flipping through documents. She comes across a photograph of Bingjie taken shortly before she died. It shows a thin child dressed only in baggy underwear that seems like it's about to fall from her waist. This is one of just two photographs the family have of their late daughter. A second, soiled photograph shows Bingjie and her elder sister sitting back to back, smiling during happier times. The older girl is flashing the V sign.
Dozens of people are said to have died and countless others have been made sick in Xinma, a small village in Majiahe county, Hunan province, two hours south of the provincial capital, Changsha. All were victims of heavy-metal poisoning of the land by Longteng Industry, a private electroplate manufacturer, which denied responsibility and has since closed.
Villagers allege that the factory poured toxic waste into the fields while government officials were paid to look the other way. The few who are willing to speak tell a story of collusion between local government, environmental officials, the factory owner and 'hei shehui', or mafia organisation. With the land ruined by toxic waste, which is next to impossible to clean up and which has tainted the food and water supply, many villagers have abandoned their homes and farms to seek jobs in cities.
A HEAVY METAL IS A member of a loosely defined subset of elements that exhibit metallic properties. Some of them, including mercury, cadmium, lead, chromium and arsenic, are dangerous to human health and the environment while others, such as zinc, cause corrosion. Heavy metals are dispersed during various industrial processes.
The danger to health posed by heavy-metal poisoning is not confined to Majiahe, but is spreading across the mainland, resulting in the toxic contamination of fields and water sources, which, in turn, affects vegetables, fruit, rice and water, and leads to countless deaths.