In 2011, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced that the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Heavy Metal Pollution†had been approved. The plan targeted 14 provinces and regions, including Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai, as key areas for action. Just months after the "cadmium rice" crisis in May, concerns over heavy metal pollution in soil began to surface more clearly. Recently, the Ministry of Land and Resources released a report indicating that China is mapping out the extent of soil heavy metal contamination. According to their findings, the affected area has grown significantly and now includes densely populated regions in eastern China.
A Hidden Investigation
In 2006, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Land and Resources launched a nationwide soil pollution survey. Local environmental monitoring stations were given detailed guidelines, requiring them to collect samples using GPS technology and follow a strict grid system of 4x4 kilometers. By 2008, a total of 213,754 soil and agricultural product samples had been collected, generating nearly 5 million valid data points. This effort led to the creation of a national soil pollution database and sample archive.
In 2009, the Ministry of Environmental Protection compiled a general report on the investigation along with several specialized reports, including 12 pilot projects, 18 research studies, and 7 draft technical guidelines for contaminated soil remediation. Despite this extensive work, which cost over one billion yuan, the results remained undisclosed to the public. In 2013, Beijing lawyer Dong Zhengwei filed a request for government information disclosure, asking for access to the data, investigation methods, causes of pollution, and prevention strategies. However, the Ministry of Environmental Protection refused, citing “state secrets.â€
Disturbing Statistics
The Ministry of Land and Resources revealed that approximately 12 million tons of grain are contaminated with heavy metals each year, resulting in economic losses exceeding 20 billion yuan. These contaminated grains could feed over 40 million people annually. According to Xinhua News Agency, from 2009 to 2012, there were more than 30 major heavy metal pollution incidents across the country.
A 2010 study by the China National Rice Research Institute and the Ministry of Agriculture's Rice and Products Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center found that about one-fifth of China’s arable land is contaminated with heavy metals. Researcher Chen Tongbin from the Chinese Academy of Sciences estimates that around 10% of China’s farmland is polluted. In Hunan Province alone, 28,000 hectares of land are contaminated, making up 13% of the province's total area.
Heavy Metal Pollution in Arable Land
Cadmium and arsenic are the most prevalent pollutants. According to the China National Environmental Monitoring Center, cadmium, mercury, lead, and arsenic are the most serious heavy metal contaminants. Researcher Chen Tongbin noted that cadmium and arsenic account for roughly 40% of all contaminated farmland. The Environmental Remediation Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences highlighted that large amounts of arsenic slag have been discarded in places like Liannan, Guangxi, Nanchang, Hunan, Changning, Changde, and Zhangzhou, leading to crops in these areas having arsenic levels over 100 times the national standard.
Cadmium contamination is also widespread. A 2010 study by the China Rice Research Institute and the Ministry of Agriculture found that cadmium-contaminated farmland spans 25 regions across 11 provinces, particularly in southern China, such as Hunan and Jiangxi. A team from Nanjing Agricultural University tested rice samples from various markets and found that about 10% of the commercially available rice exceeded cadmium standards.
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