Deutsche Presse-Agentur
September 10, 2006

Environmental agencies even lack authority to intervene on their own as they answer to more powerful provincial bodies that are often in league with polluters, corrupt and riddled with nepotism.

Beijing: Hardly a week goes by in China without another report of a chemical accident with devastating consequences. One can only imagine how many things go unreported and are slowly, silently, destroying people’s health. In the most recent case, environmental authorities in Yueyang County in central China announced they had discovered extremely high concentration levels of highly toxic arsenic in Xinqiang River during routine water-quality checks. They had immediately implemented emergency plans, they said in a response meant to reassure the Chinese, who have little faith in the competence of the country’s environmental protection bodies. China’s economy has been growing at an average annual rate of between 9 and 10 per cent for more than 30 years. Gigantic chemical plants, paper mills, smelting works and other environmentally dangerous sites have grown up, while environmental protection has not kept pace. Environmental agencies even lack authority to intervene on their own as they answer to more powerful provincial bodies that are often in league with polluters, corrupt and riddled with nepotism.