by Thanh Thuy

The towns and villages around southern Vietnam’s largest city are full of landfills and dumps, where large companies unload materials full of mercury, iron and chemicals. The pollution causes damage to the ground and in people, provoking a cancer epidemic.

Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) – Some 40 “cancer” villages dot the landscape around Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic capital. The land, air and water in these sites are highly polluted as a result of the indiscriminate use of chemicals in farming as well. One of the consequence is that 150,000 new cancer cases are recorded each year, and about 70,000 deaths.

According to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development data, tens of thousands of companies and enterprises (some from China and Taiwan) use chemicals near these villages, turning them into landfills for recycling lead, mercury , timber, iron, paper, plastics, fertilisers and textile dyes.

Although a huge landfill was closed in 2002 in Ho Chi Minh City, many others are still in operation and continue to threaten the health of more than 10 million people.

Tran, who lives near one of the "rubbish hills", spoke to AsiaNews about them. "Before 1980 this was a migration project. Shortly afterwards however, the landfill expanded to touch other residential areas. Although the local government planned to close the facility, hazardous waste is still brought here from other places from firms, workshops or companies. This is making locals sick.”

In Hoc Mon district, the Tran Van Danh elementary school is located 200 metres from a landfill. Many local children have developed cancer and died over the years. Both Nguyen Van and Tran Thi live near the landfill. "Last week it rained a lot and the water flowed down from the dump into our house. It was very smelly and we could not stand it. The fruit and vegetable garden died shortly after."

"For years, hundreds of people near the landfill have died of cancer,” said Thị Lê who lives in Thanh Đông district. “There are two generations of families who have had the same kind of tumour: nasopharyngeal, skin, liver . . . In a radius 200 metres from my home, seven people died of cancer,” he said. “Human greed causes environmental pollution and I'm afraid to live here. If I had more money I would go somewhere else."

On 11 April, residents formally wrote to the local authorities asking them to remove 1,300 tonnes of pesticides dumped in a muddy landfill. They are still waiting for an answer.

"I learnt the catechism in the parish,” said Maria Tien, a parishioner from Phuoc Vinh, in the diocese of Nha Trang. “I also learnt Pope Francis’ lessons, that we must raise awareness about the environment and its protection. The pope said that we cannot separate ourselves from the environment in which we live, because the environment is an integral part of us."

Sadly, she is aware that “people abuse technology and chemicals in farming, causing irreparable damage to humans.” On this point, “I agree very much with the pope,” she added. “I was also moved to see Bishop Nguyen Van Hoa, who is retired, collect trash on the beach in Nha Trang every morning."

• vietnam
• ho
• chi
• minh
• city
• pollution
• landfills
• chemicals