Tumor outbreak reported in Dongming, pollution blamed

• Source: Global Times
• [07:02 June 29 2009]
• Comments

A sewage treatment plant in Dongming. Photo: The Beijing News

By Kang Juan

Tens of thousands of residents in Dongming county, Shandong Province, allegedly suffer from thyroid tumors because of industrial pollution, a discovery that has resulted in Premier Wen Jiabao ordering an investigation into the claims.

Zhang Lixiang, administrative supervisor of the Shandong health department, told the Global Times yesterday that officials with the provincial departments of environmental protection and health are investigating the alleged connection between water pollution and thyroid diseases in Dongming.

“We will soon release the result of our investigation,” Zhang said, refusing to give further details.

According to an online post, which has appeared on both the Baidu and Tianya Web portals, the number of people diagnosed with thyroid tumors has soared since four Cyclohexanone chemical plants opened in Dongming in 2003. A local doctor in charge of checkups for retired cadres revealed that more than 60 percent of the people he has examined have thyroid tumors, the post says.

The post claims that there may be 50,000 to 60,000 sufferers in the urban areas of Dongming, adding that before the chemical plants had opened, the county “did not have a single thyroid tumor case.”

Preliminary results show that eight out of 10,000 people in three towns of Dongming county suffer from thyroid-related diseases, far below the 14.39 percent diagnosed after checkups at hospitals, Shandong TV reporter Li Jian told China National Radio yesterday.