China covers up yet another health hazard, endangers public

China needs to get its act together. It is not acceptable to delay information to people when their health is at risk. Nevermind the horrible environmental damage that was caused....

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/11/24/china.city/index.html

China warns Russia of toxic slick

Thursday, November 24, 2005; Posted: 6:19 p.m. EST (23:19 GMT)

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Chinese officials say they have warned Russia about a chemical spill that has disrupted life in the city of Harbin and will reach Russia in about two weeks.

A toxic benzene spill has caused the stoppage of water service in Harbin and sparked widespread unease among its 9 million residents, mainly because of the length of time it took government officials to issue information regarding the potential health threat.

The benzene was spilled into the Songhua River on November 13 by an explosion at a petrochemical plant in an adjacent city on the river. The blast killed five people and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of others.

The 80-kilometer (50-mile) slick traveled down stream, and by Thursday was in Harbin. Benzene, used in gasoline, is a cancer-causing substance.

The contaminated water reached Harbin's water supply inlet at about 5 a.m. Thursday local time (2100 GMT), and entered river sections across the city's urban areas, according to the Heilongjiang provincial environment protection bureau, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Chinese officials said the polluted water would reach the Heilongjiang River, called the Amur River in Russia, on the Sino-Russian border in around 14 days judging from the current flow speed, Xinhua reported.

Zhang Lijun, deputy director China's State Environmental Protection Administration, was quoted as saying that some of the 100 tons of pollutants had been absorbed because the density of the pollutants had dropped markedly.

Zhang, addressing a press conference in Beijing Thursday, said a chemical plant run by the China National Petroleum Corp.'s Jilin Petrochemical Company should be held responsible for the pollution.

CNPC deputy general manager Zeng Yukang apologized for the accident and said CNPC would help with the cleanup, Xinhua reported.

"China is very concerned about the possible hazards to Russia and has informed its neighbor several times of the pollution," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a press conference. "Both have pledged to cooperate closely to handle the pollution."

Russian officials, however, have said China dragged its feet in communicating about the potential health hazard. Moscow has issued a statement to its neighbors asking them to communicate about matters potentially affecting Russia in a "timely manner."

Harbin has cut off its water supply for at least four days, and has trucked in 700 tons of bottled water. New wells are being drilled to make up for the shortage. Schools in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, have closed and hospitals were put on standby to deal with any medical emergencies, although none were immediately reported.

Besides the potential for an environmental disaster, the incident has turned into a public relations disaster as well for the Chinese government, which until the past two days had not given residents timely information about the approaching toxic chemicals. In an effort to appease the public, government officials, in a rare turnaround, began offering hourly updates.

Officials have estimated the slick may pass Harbin in about 40 hours, but residents -- who scrambled to save water in pails and bathtubs as well as cramming grocery stores to stock up on bottled water -- remained worried about long-term health effects, and many were taking no chances.

"We promise to resume the water supply after four days," said Zhang Zuoji, provincial governor. "I think the quality will be no problem, because our monitoring department will take a close look at water quality."

Zhang offered to drink the first mouthful of water himself, but concerns persisted that the threat could last longer than four days.

Others worried about how the threat could affect Harbin's tourism industry. People flock each year to the city's Ice Festival to see sculptures carved out of ice.

 

This story is getting worse...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/25/news/beijing.php

China tried to keep benzene spill secret

By Jim Yardley The New York Times
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2005

HARBIN, China The government tried for days to keep secret the threat posed to the nearly four million people of this city by a chemical explosion and benzene leak that has made the water supply unusable, Chinese news accounts revealed Friday.

The reports, including some from the official Xinhua news agency, suggested that officials here and in Jilin Province, where the disaster occurred 380 kilometers, or 235 miles, up the Songhua River, lied or told only part of the story until they had no choice but to admit the truth.

The explosion at the chemical plant occurred on Nov. 13, but factory officials announced only that the accident posed no threat of air pollution. They denied that chemicals had spilled into the river, the main source of water for Harbin and other communities.

A Shanghai newspaper, the News Morning Post, reported that government officials in Jilin told their downstream neighbors in Heilongjiang Province, home of Harbin, that there had been no chemical spill. But Jilin officials finally told their peers in Heilongjiang on Nov. 19 that there was a problem.

The China Youth Daily reported that environmental officials in Jilin - instead of telling the public - had tried to dilute the spill with reservoir water.

By Monday, officials in Harbin were preparing to shut down of the water supply, but they feared news of the chemical spill would start a panic, the News Morning Post reported. Instead, they announced that they had to cut off the water to do maintenance work on the mains. Rumors then erupted that the government had detected signs of an earthquake.

Enough people panicked that the officials then had to confirm that the explosion had released benzene into the river. But the damage was done.

On Friday, a front-page headline in the Modern Evening Times here stated: "There Will Not Be an Earthquake in Harbin."

"They were trying to lie and get by," said Qi Guangzhong, 64, as he walked along the Songhua River on Friday. "The government wanted to hide this."

The earthquake rumors were just one of the consequences of a government response that was secretive and misleading at a time when China is eager to prove to the world that it is a candid international partner on other important issues, such as containing bird flu.

In the Chinese media and on the Internet, angry people seethed as officials in Jilin Province offered apologies. One citizen has already sued the state-owned chemical company responsible for the spill, state media reported.

China's leaders have tried hard to regain international trust after they tried to conceal the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in 2002. Beijing was then condemned around the world as SARS spread. But it has earned praise from some international health officials for its response to the bird flu problem.

Even so, Hu Shuli, editor of the country's most influential business magazine, Caijing, wrote an editorial that criticized propaganda officials for censoring how the media is allowed to cover bird-flu outbreaks. Since that editorial, coverage of the disease has expanded.

Some people here are critical of the State Environmental Protection Agency, which said Thursday that it would seek criminal penalties against those responsible for the spill.

"It happened on the 13th," said Qi, the man walking along the river on Friday, pointing out that 11 days had passed before the environmental agency spoke out. "Where have they been?"

Qi said residents were immediately suspicious when Harbin officials announced that the water would be stopped for maintenance work on the mains.

He said the timing was too strange: Why would the city do routine work when the sub-zero temperatures of winter are about to begin?

He said his wife and children left three days ago for the countryside; he remained to protect their home.

HARBIN, China The government tried for days to keep secret the threat posed to the nearly four million people of this city by a chemical explosion and benzene leak that has made the water supply unusable, Chinese news accounts revealed Friday.

The reports, including some from the official Xinhua news agency, suggested that officials here and in Jilin Province, where the disaster occurred 380 kilometers, or 235 miles, up the Songhua River, lied or told only part of the story until they had no choice but to admit the truth.

The explosion at the chemical plant occurred on Nov. 13, but factory officials announced only that the accident posed no threat of air pollution. They denied that chemicals had spilled into the river, the main source of water for Harbin and other communities.

A Shanghai newspaper, the News Morning Post, reported that government officials in Jilin told their downstream neighbors in Heilongjiang Province, home of Harbin, that there had been no chemical spill. But Jilin officials finally told their peers in Heilongjiang on Nov. 19 that there was a problem.

The China Youth Daily reported that environmental officials in Jilin - instead of telling the public - had tried to dilute the spill with reservoir water.

By Monday, officials in Harbin were preparing to shut down of the water supply, but they feared news of the chemical spill would start a panic, the News Morning Post reported. Instead, they announced that they had to cut off the water to do maintenance work on the mains. Rumors then erupted that the government had detected signs of an earthquake.

Enough people panicked that the officials then had to confirm that the explosion had released benzene into the river. But the damage was done.

On Friday, a front-page headline in the Modern Evening Times here stated: "There Will Not Be an Earthquake in Harbin."

"They were trying to lie and get by," said Qi Guangzhong, 64, as he walked along the Songhua River on Friday. "The government wanted to hide this."

The earthquake rumors were just one of the consequences of a government response that was secretive and misleading at a time when China is eager to prove to the world that it is a candid international partner on other important issues, such as containing bird flu.

In the Chinese media and on the Internet, angry people seethed as officials in Jilin Province offered apologies. One citizen has already sued the state-owned chemical company responsible for the spill, state media reported.

China's leaders have tried hard to regain international trust after they tried to conceal the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in 2002. Beijing was then condemned around the world as SARS spread. But it has earned praise from some international health officials for its response to the bird flu problem.

Even so, Hu Shuli, editor of the country's most influential business magazine, Caijing, wrote an editorial that criticized propaganda officials for censoring how the media is allowed to cover bird-flu outbreaks. Since that editorial, coverage of the disease has expanded.

Some people here are critical of the State Environmental Protection Agency, which said Thursday that it would seek criminal penalties against those responsible for the spill.

"It happened on the 13th," said Qi, the man walking along the river on Friday, pointing out that 11 days had passed before the environmental agency spoke out. "Where have they been?"

Qi said residents were immediately suspicious when Harbin officials announced that the water would be stopped for maintenance work on the mains.

He said the timing was too strange: Why would the city do routine work when the sub-zero temperatures of winter are about to begin?

He said his wife and children left three days ago for the countryside; he remained to protect their home.

HARBIN, China The government tried for days to keep secret the threat posed to the nearly four million people of this city by a chemical explosion and benzene leak that has made the water supply unusable, Chinese news accounts revealed Friday.

The reports, including some from the official Xinhua news agency, suggested that officials here and in Jilin Province, where the disaster occurred 380 kilometers, or 235 miles, up the Songhua River, lied or told only part of the story until they had no choice but to admit the truth.

The explosion at the chemical plant occurred on Nov. 13, but factory officials announced only that the accident posed no threat of air pollution. They denied that chemicals had spilled into the river, the main source of water for Harbin and other communities.

A Shanghai newspaper, the News Morning Post, reported that government officials in Jilin told their downstream neighbors in Heilongjiang Province, home of Harbin, that there had been no chemical spill. But Jilin officials finally told their peers in Heilongjiang on Nov. 19 that there was a problem.

The China Youth Daily reported that environmental officials in Jilin - instead of telling the public - had tried to dilute the spill with reservoir water.

By Monday, officials in Harbin were preparing to shut down of the water supply, but they feared news of the chemical spill would start a panic, the News Morning Post reported. Instead, they announced that they had to cut off the water to do maintenance work on the mains. Rumors then erupted that the government had detected signs of an earthquake.

Enough people panicked that the officials then had to confirm that the explosion had released benzene into the river. But the damage was done.

On Friday, a front-page headline in the Modern Evening Times here stated: "There Will Not Be an Earthquake in Harbin."

"They were trying to lie and get by," said Qi Guangzhong, 64, as he walked along the Songhua River on Friday. "The government wanted to hide this."

The earthquake rumors were just one of the consequences of a government response that was secretive and misleading at a time when China is eager to prove to the world that it is a candid international partner on other important issues, such as containing bird flu.

In the Chinese media and on the Internet, angry people seethed as officials in Jilin Province offered apologies. One citizen has already sued the state-owned chemical company responsible for the spill, state media reported.

China's leaders have tried hard to regain international trust after they tried to conceal the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in 2002. Beijing was then condemned around the world as SARS spread. But it has earned praise from some international health officials for its response to the bird flu problem.

Even so, Hu Shuli, editor of the country's most influential business magazine, Caijing, wrote an editorial that criticized propaganda officials for censoring how the media is allowed to cover bird-flu outbreaks. Since that editorial, coverage of the disease has expanded.

Some people here are critical of the State Environmental Protection Agency, which said Thursday that it would seek criminal penalties against those responsible for the spill.

"It happened on the 13th," said Qi, the man walking along the river on Friday, pointing out that 11 days had passed before the environmental agency spoke out. "Where have they been?"

Qi said residents were immediately suspicious when Harbin officials announced that the water would be stopped for maintenance work on the mains.

He said the timing was too strange: Why would the city do routine work when the sub-zero temperatures of winter are about to begin?

He said his wife and children left three days ago for the countryside; he remained to protect their home.

 

sorry, but government sponsored health coverups that could endager world health (Sars, huge amounts of benzene in rivers, possible bird flu coverup) are issues that need to be brought to the forefront, because it's clear that China isn't responsible enough to do it themselves.