GUIYANG, April 23 (Xinhua) -- After many years, Cheng Mingliang, 67, former vice president and tenured professor of the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, came back to Yuzhang Town and was amazed to see the improvement in medical and living conditions of local villagers.
Yuzhang is located in Xingren City, Bouyei-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Qianxinan, southwest China's Guizhou Province. It was listed as one of the arsenic poisoning areas caused by coal burning.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, small coal mines were scattered all over the town, producing coal with high arsenic content. Due to poor economic conditions and outdated production, local residents mined coal at will and used open stoves to burn coal for heating, cooking, and food drying.
As a result, arsenic entered the human body through the respiratory tract, skin, and digestive tract, leading to arsenic poisoning. A few grams of arsenic could be fatal to one's life.
According to Cheng, arsenic poisoning could injure many systems and organs of humans and, most typically, result in skin lesions. Severe cases may include liver cirrhosis, ascites, and various tumors.
Zhou Yunshu, 69, an expert at the Qianxinan prefecture's disease control and prevention center, has been engaged in endemic disease prevention and control for nearly 30 years. Zhou recalled that in 1976, hundreds of villagers in Yuzhang Town had skin hyperkeratosis and had difficulty walking and moving their hands and feet joints.
Controlling the source was the key to preventing and controlling the disease. The researchers recommended that coal mines with high arsenic content be closed or blown up and that all patients receive arsenic removal treatment.
The local government also assisted local villagers in improving their stoves, installing chimneys to their houses. They also conducted various forms of publicity to raise awareness about the hazards, aiming to help residents in the affected areas change their unhealthy living habits.
Since the late 1990s, Cheng's team has often gone to Xingren to collect blood, urine, hair, and other samples from local patients to carry out research on the pathogenic mechanism and distribute free drugs to alleviate their pain.
Arsenic poisoning in Guizhou has caught the attention of experts in the United States, Japan, and Canada. In 2005, Cheng hosted a research project with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the United States to initiate molecular biology research and find effective measures.
According to the provincial disease control and prevention center, no new cases of arsenic poisoning caused by coal burning have been reported in Guizhou since 2006.
"There were no patients in the next generation, which was the best effect," said Zhou.
In Yuzhang Town, villagers no longer burn coal but instead use natural gas and induction cookers.
Zhang Wengang, Party chief of Yuzhang, said that the town had developed agricultural industries such as chili, coix seed, tea, and cattle raising.
In 2022, the pepper processing plant of the town was officially put into use, which could dry 25 tonnes of fresh peppers in a single day. Last year, the per capita net income of the town's residents who had been lifted out of poverty reached more than 17,000 yuan (about 2,353 U.S. dollars).
In recent years, local medical equipment and the environment have also greatly improved. The health center, currently equipped with color ultrasound machines and electrocardiographs is capable of treating common diseases.
When facing difficult and complex diseases, doctors can apply for remote consultation with superior hospitals to help villagers seek medical treatment nearby. ■
