Scores sick, 20 dead in polluted village

[United Press International]

BEIJING, May 10 (UPI) -- Chemical and pesticide pollution in
water used by residents of Yangqiao in China's Jiangsu province have
earned it the name "cancer village."
Chinese media on Monday reported 20 peasants have died and
scores more have become ill in Yangqiao with the village's two
chemical plants and one agricultural pesticide factory the suspected
causes.
The Jiangnan Times, a Nanjing-based newspaper affiliated
with People's Daily, ran a story saying 80 percent of villagers
complained of breathing problems and dizziness related to strange
smells coming from the factories.
Heavy industries located in China's countryside are part of
what are known as township and village enterprises. Established by
former leader Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s as a way of providing jobs
for the country's 900 million rural residents, polluting enterprises
in these areas are not subject to the same level of environmental
monitoring as found in urban areas.
Yangqiao is located in Funing County, approximately 300
kilometers northeast of the provincial capital Nanjing.