According to the latest survey conducted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, water resources in 37 “cancer villages” have become heavily polluted.
The ten “cancer villages” with the most polluted water resources are:
- Thong Nhat Village in Ung Hoa District, Hanoi
- Lung Vy Village in Chuong My District, Hanoi
- Man Xa Village in Yen Phong District, Bac Ninh province
- Tho Vy Village, Nong Cong District, Thanh Hoa province
- Yen Lao Village, Kim Bang District, Ha Nam Province
- Co Do Village, Dien Chau District, Nghe An province
- An Loc Village, Loc Ha District, Ha Tinh province
- Phuoc Thien Village, Binh Son District, Quang Ngai Province
- Xuan Vinh Village, Hoai Nhon District, Binh Dinh Province
- Me Pu Village, Duc Linh District, Binh Thuan Province.
Source: “Investigating, searching hygienic water resources for a number of “cancer villages” in Vietnam” project.
The project did not make any conclusion about the cause of cancer at the villages. It only focused on testing and assessment of current water resources in the villages.
Dr. Ho Ming Tho, chairman of the project, said the 37 “cancer villages” surveyed by the project are located in 22 provinces and cities in the country.
According to the survey, these villages have had up to 1,136 people who died of cancer in the past five to 20 years. In addition, 380 people in the neighboring villages also died of cancer. According to Dr. Tho, the statistics were provided by the local health authorities.
Thach Khe village, in Thach Son commune, Lam Thao district of Phu Tho province, has the highest numbers of deaths from cancer – 139 people. The village with the lowest number has six.
The “cancer pain” attacks thousands of families. There is a family in Co Do village, Dien Chau District of Nghe An Province with five family members with cancer and three of them have died.
Dr. Tho said that the only common feature of these villages is that the water resources are polluted.
In the first phase of the survey, scientists tested 814 samples of water taken from rivers, streams and wells that people in the 37 “cancer villages” were using.
Over 80 per cent of the samples failed to meet national standards for microorganisms, more than 65 per cent were contaminated and over 30 per cent had a high concentration of iron, and 50 samples containing aluminum, cadmium, benzene, bentazone, phenols, arsenic, and manganese exceeding the standards.
According to Dr. Tho, the second phase of the project will focus on seeking safe water resources for these villages. However, the second phase has not been approved yet.
