VietNamNet Bridge – Local people in Giap Lai commune of Phu Tho province sighed with relief when they saw the pyrite mine closing down. However, the fear about diseases still has been following them everywhere.

Giap Lai commune in Phu Tho province, the locality with 900 houses, 3,000 local people, including 25 percent of poor households, has been called the “cancer village” for the last many years. Even though the mining finished in 2001 already, more people still have died of cancer.

The exploiter did not apply any measures to ease the negative impacts on the environment during the three decades of exploiting ores on an area of 96 hectares in Giap Lai. It also has not done anything to revert the environment to the original state as stipulated by the laws after it closed down the mine in 2001.

A report of the local authorities showed that a lot of people died in the last years because of cancer, while many cases have been found as suffering congenital defects.

Hoang Thi Thanh Tam from the Giap Lai commune’s healthcare center said that more than 10 people died of cancer every year over the last 16 years.

Also according to Tam, though the number of people dying of cancer has decreased in recent years (28 people in 2009, 21 in 2011 and 9 in 2012), the situation is still really worrying. Ten people have been discovered as suffering from cancer recently. Meanwhile, the people who died recently tend to be younger, aged from 35 to 60.

Tam has noted that the dead people were mostly the workers who once worked at the mining sites or their children and grandchildren. The number of patients suffering from gynecological diseases and gravel is also relatively high.

In the past, local residents in Giap Lai commune mostly earned their living on mining, or picking dry wood, forest vegetable or carrying bricks for manufacturers. Though living on a land rich in natural resources, Giap Lai’s people still have been very poor.

Vi Thi My, a local resident, complained that her family has been facing more big difficulties since the day her son died of cancer. “We are living in a land rich in natural resources, but we cannot get benefits from the resources. Only the relatives of the VIPs can be hired to work for the factory for stable monthly salary,” she said.

Nguyen Thi Hai has been working for the mining company for the last 21 years. Local people once felt jealous of her when she became a worker and got stable income. However, Hai said, mining workers would have to pay a heavy price for the money they receive from their works.

Hai’s husband, who has died of liver cancer, was also a worker at the pyrite mine.

“We regularly had our health examined. However, no problem was discovered. It was too late when the disease was found. No cure could help him,” she complained.

Nguyen Thi Thinh, Chair of the Giap Lai commune People’s Committee, confirmed that people still have suffered serious diseases after the pyrite mines closed down. “The provincial authorities sent staff here to examine the situation, but no conclusion has been made,” Thinh said.

Meanwhile, when asked about the solutions to the polluting sources in Giap Lai commune, Tran Minh Khanh, Deputy Director of the Phu Tho provincial Healthcare Department simply said he has not received any report about this.

Thien Nhien