Solo post - Chinese Cancer Villages

Over the past couple decades, the Chinese economy has become a powerhouse of production, dominating several global industries. One of these is the chemical industry. China produces far more chemical products than any other country. However, this has the (possible) unintended effect of causing cancer among factory workers and any others who are exposed to pollution. Many of these people are poor and depend on their factory jobs to sustain them. They cannot move to avoid the effects of pollution: even though their air and water are too polluted for it to be healthy, the poor in these villages cannot afford to move, especially because they would lose their jobs. They also do not have the political means to advocate for and protect their environment. The chemical industry is very powerful in China, and Chinese leaders care more about economic wealth than personal wellbeing: as Linh Nguyen writes in her article “Cancer Villages in China,” the Chinese government supports the “grow (pollute) first, clean up later” approach of chemical industries (77). 

There are at least 100 cancer villages in China, and there may be up to 400. One of these regions in Chongqing. Home to many chemical-producing factories, Chongqing is a hotbed for cancer. Factory workers and other members of the community are developing cancer at an alarmingly high rate. Specifically, many residents of Chongqing are developing colorectal cancer. The prevalence of cancer became so extreme that Chongqing built a cancer hospital specifically to treat the many villagers who developed it. 

There has not been a comprehensive study of Chinese cancer villages, most likely for political reasons. The Chinese government does not want to curtail its economic expansion in order to protect Chinese villagers or the environment. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether or not these cancer clusters occur by chance or not. Due to the large amount of clusters (over 100) and their prevalence in polluted areas, I would say that the industrial and chemical pollution is causing cancer. However, any data leaving China has the potential to be compromised by the Chinese government, who would prefer to ignore the problem. The government has admitted the existence of cancer villages only recently. They are planning on mitigating the effects of pollution in their next five-year plan, but it is difficult to say how they will accomplish this when they already let the pollution get to this seemly-unmanageable point. 

References:
http://labos.ulg.ac.be/hugo/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2017/11/The-State-of-Environmental-Migration-2015-77-87.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00139151003618118
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jgh.13018