Farmers are seen harvesting vegetables on farmland near Shanghai. About 10 percent of China's farmland contains excessive levels of heavy metals due to contaminated water and poisonous waste seeping into the soil, state media said Monday, citing a government survey.
About 10 percent of China's farmland contains excessive levels of heavy metals due to contaminated water and poisonous waste seeping into the soil, state media said Monday, citing a government survey.
Pollution from heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cancer-causing cadmium is often blamed for poisoning entire villages and crop-growing land in China as factory bosses flout environmental laws and farmers use toxic fertilisers.
The report in the Southern Metropolis Daily said the survey organised by the environmental protection ministry found about 10 percent of farmland had "striking problems of heavy metal levels exceeding (official) limits".
