Pollution in China

"China's Cancer Villages" provides a rather detailed focus on the obvious and horrible local consequences of pollution, but there is another very important angle to this story that may have global implications (C&EN, Oct. 29, page 18). The article refers to the affected people as "farmers." Clearly, they are the most directly affected.

However, if the drinking water is indeed polluted, those pollutants are also likely to be in the water the farm crops receive and in the soil in which those crops are grown. That being the case, the contaminants' impact goes as far as the crops from those lands go. In a global economy, that can be very far. A scenario such as this highlights how regional decisions can have global consequences and how, in a global economy, the consequences of regional decisions can be significant far beyond the domain of regional decisionmakers.

The article did an excellent job covering the local impact, but I would hope that the more far-reaching impact is also considered.

Patrick McLoughlin
Pittsburgh