'Cancer villages' map goes viral

A map of over 200 so-called "cancer villages" in China drew attention online recently amid increasing public concern over groundwater pollution and a government report acknowledging the clusters last week.

"The map lists the villages where residents run a greater risk of developing cancer," said Phoenix Weekly reporter Deng Fei on his Sina Weibo account, who had conducted investigative reports of the villages.

First published by the Hong Kong-based Phoenix Weekly in 2009, the map went viral on Weibo following a recent case where netizens accused factories in Weifang, Shandong Province of pumping waste water underground.

Deng told the Beijing Times on Sunday that according to official sources around 18,000 chemical plants are located next to rivers, whose pollutants contaminated groundwater sources and led to a spike in cancer cases and sterile livestock in nearby villages.

"While most of the reported cancer villages are located in central and eastern China, they also appear in western regions," the paper quoted Deng as saying.

China's Ministry of Environmental Protection admitted to the existence of the cancer clusters in an open report released on Wednesday.

"Toxic chemical pollution had caused many environmental disasters, decreased drinking water supplies and even led to serious health and social issues such as cancer villages," read the report, entitled "12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) of Risk Prevention and Management of Chemical Pollutants."

"This shows that the central government is addressing the problem," said Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

"Liquid waste, garbage, and gas discharged from smelters, paper mills, chemical plants and electronics factories have polluted China's villages," Ma, who has also investigated a number of polluted villages, told the Global Times.

Ma explained that a direct relationship between the pollution and cancer clusters has yet to be proven, as it demands large-scale monitoring over a long period.

"However, I think we should adopt precautionary measures used by developed countries as soon as such cases are discovered," Ma said.

"Residents in rural areas should be provided with the same clean water as those in the cities," said Dai Xingyi, an urban environmental expert at Fudan University.

"Most shallow groundwater in Shanghai has been tainted," Dai said, "but it has not turned into a 'cancer city' because the water supply is subjected to a thorough purification process," said Dai.

In a 2011 survey of the groundwater supplies in 200 cities, 55 percent were deemed "poor" or "very poor," while 15.2 percent of water monitoring stations surveyed saw a decrease in water quality compared to the previous year, according to a Beijing News report.