Skin ulcers are seen on Gong Zhaoyuan's torso in Heshan village, in Shimen county, central China's Hunan...
Skin ulcers are seen on 69-year-old Gong Zhaoyuan's torso in Heshan village, in Shimen county, central China's Hunan Province, June 3, 2014. Zhaoyuan suffers from skin cancer, which developed as result of arsenic poisoning. From the 1950s, mines and chemical plants mushroomed in the area around Heshan which is rich in realgar, or arsenic disulphide. They were shut down in 2011 due to the pollution they caused but dust and runoff from arsenic plagues Heshan to this day. In 2010, 157 villagers from Heshan, with a population of about 1,500, had died of cancer caused by arsenic poisoning in the previous two decades, and another 190 had developed cancer due to arsenic poisoning, the villagers wrote in a letter to the local government, seen by Reuters, seeking compensation and aid. Picture taken June 3, 2014. REUTERS/Jason Lee (CHINA - Tags: BUSINESS HEALTH SOCIETY)
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