1 Million Tons Of Toxic Industrial Waste Piled Up At 12 Dumps Across China; Mucho Hex. Chromium

[hatrack]

BEIJING - One million tons of untreated toxic industrial waste are piling up across China, risking environmental disasters like the recently exposed case in Yunnan province, a non-governmental organization has warned.

Earlier this month it was revealed that more than 5,000 tons of chromium residue were illegally dumped on roadsides and in mountains by a chemical factory in Yunnan's Qujing city, causing the deaths of 77 head of livestock. Official tests found "excessive sexivalent chromium" in water in the area where the waste was dumped.

Tests of the groundwater near the factory by Greenpeace, an environmental protection organization, showed that the concentration of sexivalent chromium in the water was 242 times the national standard.

Chromium residue is a heavy metal and hazardous waste residue generated in the production of chromium metal and chromium salt. Hexavalent compounds in the residue are the most toxic. The soluble and unstable chemical may cause health problems, such as kidney and liver damage, after entering human bodies through respiration, the skin, mucous membranes and digestion of food.

EDIT

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-08/31/content_13224360.htm