The bad earth: The most neglected threat to public health in China is toxic soil

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Contaminated soil is the biggest neglected threat to public health in China




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The bad earth




Print Fly Title: 


Pollution in China








UK Only Article:  standard article




Issue: 


Tech firms could do more to help stop the jihadists




Fly Title: 


The bad earth





Location: 


SHIQIAO, HUNAN PROVINCE




Main image: 


20170610_FBP001_0.jpg








TANG DONGHUA, a wiry 47-year-old farmer wearing a Greenpeace T-shirt, smokes a cigarette and gesticulates towards his paddy fields in the hills of southern Hunan province. The leaves of his rice plants poke about a foot above water. Mr Tang says he expects to harvest about one tonne of rice from his plot of a third of a hectare (0.8 acres) near the small village of Shiqiao. There is just one problem: the crop will be poisoned.
Egrets and ...