A recent environmental study by the Changsha Shuguang Environmental Charity Development Centre found more than 1,500 times the permitted level of heavy metal in soil in Hunan province, including cadmium levels 200 times soil quality standards, the South China Morning Post reported. Hunan’s non-ferrous metal mines generate almost 50 million tons of waste a year, and waste water containing cadmium and other pollutants is often used to irrigate farmlands. Hunan residents said the water, soil and air pollution in the province had given rise to a range of puzzling illnesses as well as cancer. (For more on soil pollution in China, see our recent report)
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