One day in September Mr. He, a cotton farmer from Sanzhou Town, Jianli County, in Hubei Province, noticed his nose and eyes were itchy. A few days later yellow fluid was oozing out of his nose and his eyelids were so swollen he could barely see. Mr. He is one of hundreds of farmers in the region suffering from similar symptoms. At the same time newspapers reported that Sanzhou had been polluted by the chemical vanadium. Is there a connection between pollution and the outbreak of symptoms among farmers?

Vanadium is prime suspect in outbreak of skin disease

Sanzhou is a prosperous place, famous for its farm produce. But a local news report Pollution turns Sanzhou into a living Hell published on October 3 turned the national media spotlight on the town.

"The two vanadium mills have been in production just over a month, but already the pollution is shocking. The water in the wells is no longer safe to drink. Villagers have itchy red sores all over their faces, hands and necks. Sometimes the skin peels off. There is an unpleasant smell hanging over the village and toxic waster water is being discharged directly into the Yangtze," the report said.

Mr. He remembers that smoke started to come out of the nearby kiln in June. Since then, a sickening odor has pervaded their village. "The smell is even worse than the fertilizers and pesticides we use in the fields."

According to the Ministry of Health, 1300 people have been affected by skin problems, 600 seriously. Medical teams sent to examine the sick villagers concluded they were suffering from "ordinary skin inflammation".

A report issued by the Hubei Health Department says "surveys were conducted in villages with and without vanadium mills, and the results were similar. Therefore, it's difficult to tell if there is a direct connection between the vanadium pollution and the villagers' skin conditions."

Their conclusions are fiercely questioned by locals: "We never saw such a strange disease before. Why did it appear right after the vanadium mills were set up?"

It's all about money

Jianli County organized two major cleanups in July and September, shutting down 4 existing vanadium mills, and withdrawing the licenses of 2 new mills and halting 3 mill projects under construction.

But 3 of the banned mills started up nighttime production illegally and continued to pollute the local environment.

Why are they so difficult to ban? The answer is money. Running vanadium mills is the most profitable business in Jianli, China Youth Daily reported on October 20.

"The villagers are boiling with anger," said a local man who added that powerful interest groups probably held shares in the illegal mills.

Migration of the vanadium mills

A Jianli government official told the press that Jianli doesn't have vanadium ore; the raw material is brought in from nearby Hunan. After the Hunan government cleared out its polluting vanadium mills they simply relocated to Jianli a stone's throw away.

The environment department said that vanadium content in the waste water discharged by the plants was 78 times higher than the permitted limit.

Uncoordinated government response

Li Jigao, Party chief of Jianli County said the resurgence of the illegal mills has exposed the inability of the government to take effective action.

At least 5 departments share responsibility for solving the problem of the vanadium mills and the lack of coordination creates many loopholes for the profiteers to exploit.

Wen Songqing, a high ranking official with the Hubei Environment Protection Department said that solving the problem would require the local government and local people to work together. He said his department is working with other departments to examine the soil and water pollution in the area as a prelude to cracking down on the polluters.

(China.org.cn by Maverick Chen, October 21, 2008)