The appearance of “cancer villages” has shown that the price we have to pay for environmental pollution is too high.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen said there are more and more hot spots of environmental pollution, like “cancer villages” in Phu Tho, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong, Ha Tay, Nghe An and some provinces in the Mekong River Delta.

According to a recent report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), up to 80 percent of human diseases are related to the polluted environment. Fifty percent of patients and 25,000 people in the world die from preventable diseases with malaria accounting for 40 percent and diarrhoea 94 percent. The diseases can be prevented and controlled by better management measures.

According to the Ministry of Health, the number of people contracting occupational diseases due to environmental pollution has reached an alarming level. Each year, only 10 percent of workers receive health periodical check-ups while most of them have been infected with rhinitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia. The high rate of the labour force contracting occupational diseases is mostly found in industrial parks, craft villages, handicrafts and food processing cooperatives.

Environment pollution provokes public alarm

Tran Hong Ha, Head of the Environmental Protection Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said as of June 2006, Vietnam has set up 134 industrial parks (IPs) and economic processing zones (EPZs), of which only 33 have had a wastewater treatment system. Each year, the IPs and EPZs discharge millions of tonnes of rubbish including thousands of tonnes of dangerous waste. Vietnam mainly uses the waste burial methods and only 12 wastewater-processing establishments in the country meet environmental requirements.

In HCM city alone, more than 800 factories, and plants and 30,000 production establishments are located in residential areas, of which 260 cause serious environmental pollution. Only two out of 12 IPs in the city have wastewater treatment systems. Annually, factories in the city discharge nearly 63,000 tonnes of solid waste and the figure will be ten times higher if we include factories outside IPs.

Water pollution also causes disease to farmers in both suburban and rural areas. The 10km-Thi Vai river section from Long Tho commune, Dong Nai province to Phu My town, Ba Ria Vung Tau is clear proof of serious water pollution.

According to a survey conducted by environmentalists, water resources in the Nhue River and Day River have been seriously polluted. In some areas, there are signs of pollution due to metal waste as in the case of Cau, Sai Gon and Dong Nai Rivers.

There is no strict control of the random discharge of waste from production establishments and markets. Meanwhile, many people drink iced water, and eat raw vegetables and some uncooked food such as raw fish and shrimp.

So far, half of the population in rural areas have not had toilets which meet the hygiene requirements. Hue city has only three big water factories and dozens of water supply stations. 59 percent of its residents have access to safe water sources and only fifteen use tap water while most people get water from deep wells.

In the Mekong River Delta, more than 90 percent of households do not have toilets and discharge waste into fishing ponds - ideal places for the spread of infectious diseases.