Pollution from a factory in Yutian, 62 miles east of Beijing
The overwhelming cancer situation in China has been officially acknowledged as a major public health crisis. According to the 2012 China Cancer Census, six patients are diagnosed with cancer every minute- that’s 8,550 diagnosed everyday. Its no surprise that many people correlate the alarmingly high cancer rates to the equally high environmental pollution growth. China has confirmed the existence of over 400 “cancer villages” where the amount of diagnosed cancer patients reaches about 10% of the village. There are even worse cases such as Zhai Wan Cun in Hubei province where the cancer rate is 80 times higher than the national level.
Many people have begun to analyze their situation and question why these cancer villages are often located in rural areas. The citizens speak out in anger about their land being turned into cancer inducing machines. Upon examining their village and pointing out the various sources of pollution, some citizens bitterly remark “Of course we have cancer.” In desperation, many people have turned to the web and social media to voice their anger at their ill environmental circumstances:
“Our Tai’an city has been surrounded by factories. Our villages have been forced to move because of the construction of a aluminum factory. They tried to petition but were stopped. The television reporters have been pressed by government officials. Our land is no longer suitable for growing crops and can only be rented to factories. The number of cancer patients has increase in an explosive manner.”
- ‘Red leaves on the mountain’, from Tai An City in Shandong province“The head of Environmental Department in Cang County has finally been sacked because of netizens’ criticism. The report came out and the residue of chemicals has exceeded 70 times the safety standard. In the village, there are 30 diagnosed cancer patients and 26 of them have died. The villagers have been protesting but all these years, all the reports from the county to the province’s environmental departments said that the water quality is safe?! How can they pass the water quality test every year? Among 655 cities in China, 400 depend on underground water supplies, so what can we do? What can our kids do?”
-An investor, Charles Xue, speaking to the news
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When we lose our loved ones, we want to keep their memories alive.
Award-winning designer Evelyn Huang of evenlynH is doing just that with her latest venture, The Forever Sunshine Project. Huang named the project in honor of a close friend, Fanny Sun, who passed away last year from Thymic Carcinoma – a rare, malignant cancer that affects the thymus gland.
We received this sweet email from a winner of Tuesday’s BCA Giveaway.
Thank you so much, and thank you so much for publicly supporting Breast Cancer. My adoptive mother is currently fighting the good fight with her own rare form of gynecological carcinoma for a second time through chemo, as metastases were found in her lungs only a few weeks ago. We’ve been at Gilda’s Club on and off for additional support; we went from a five person family to a three person family when my siblings both had meltdowns of their own and fled the nest for their own sakes. Anyway, possibly too much information, but just wanted to explain that it’s been pretty downcast for almost two years now, though my mother is still going strong. She’s really the one with the sweepstaking legacy, being a stay-at-home mom, and these little surprises through contest wins really boost us along in life. So, thank you again for all of the generosity, and the spread of Asian American unity all over the world with Audrey Magazine’s wonderful articles.
Dear reader, thank YOU so much for sharing with us your personal story. We here at Audrey hope to raise as much awareness about this disease as we possibly can. Send our best wishes to your mom, we wish her well!
It’s our pleasure to give away this beautiful necklace from J-Lynn Jewelry (usually $65.00)
A 16-18″ adjustable Sterling Silver chain holds a strong message of Love and Support for finding a cure for breast cancer. Honor a loved one who has either conquered the disease or sadly has passed with a sterling silver initial charm, silver ribbon and pink topaz drop. Or, wear your own initial as a sign of courage and strength.
$10 from the sale of this necklace will be donated to the charity of your choice in honor of you, your friend or family member.
Please comment or tweet: “I <3 pink _[insert something pink you love]__” to be eligible to win this pretty necklace.
Giveaway ends Friday, Oct. 29 at 11:59pm. Thanks!
Check here to see what other cool stuff you can win.
