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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Lao Villagers Sickened by Chemical Run-off From Chinese Banana Farms

    Chemical waste from Chinese-owned banana farms is polluting a river in Bokeo province in northern Laos, leaving local villagers who bathe in the stream with severe rashes and other skin disorders, Lao sources say.


    Only those living downstream from the farms have been affected, pointing to the farms as the likely source of the pollution, a resident of Bokeo’s Nam Fa village told RFA’s Lao Service this week.


    “Children who go to bathe in the river later have rashes all over their bodies, and when these rashes begin to itch, they scratch them, which causes swelling and large red spots to appear,” RFA’s source said.


    “Only those of us living downstream [from the farms] have this problem. Those who live upstream have not been affected,” he said, adding that villagers suspect that chemical waste from the farms runs off into the river when it rains.


    “Sometimes, workers may even pour chemicals directly into the river. We just don’t know,” he said.


    Residents of nearby villages voiced concern for their neighbors at Nam Fa, with one calling on the Lao government to better monitor the Chinese farms’ use of polluting chemicals.


    “We don’t want them to [pollute] anymore. If this is allowed to continue, even more people will be affected, and some may never be cured,” the resident of Nam Ma village in Bokeo’s Huai Xai district said.


    The villagers at Nam Fa may not realize the dangers of bathing in polluted water, though, and should take better precautions, a resident of Meung district’s Hua Nam Tha village said.


    “To protect themselves, they must take better care, and the authorities should help them with this problem,” the villager said. “The banana farms are not always to blame: there are both bad things and good things about them.”


    Treated only for symptoms, not for cause


    Nam Fa villagers come in to their local clinic for treatment more frequently in the country’s dry season, when water levels in the river fall, a district health department official said, adding that nurses will treat them only for their obvious symptoms.


    “If their condition is not severe, we will give them medicine to relieve their itching, but if their condition is worse, we will give them stronger medicine to take at home,” he said.


    “We don’t try to analyze the cause of their condition,” he said. “We treat them only for the symptoms they display.”


    An official from Bokeo’s Department of Agriculture and Forestry told RFA that he had recently visited Nam Fa and spoken to the villagers there, but had heard no complaints from them about their rashes or itching.


    “We will tell local officials to collect the information we would need to solve any problems they may have,” he said.


    Concerns over chemical run-off from heavily polluting Chinese-owned banana plantations led in January 2017 to government orders forbidding new banana concessions, though many farms were left to operate under contracts valid for several more years.


    Illnesses and deaths have long been reported among Lao workers exposed to chemicals on foreign-owned farms, with many suffering open sores, headaches, and dizzy spells, sources told RFA in earlier reports.


    Chemical run-off from farms has also polluted many of the country’s water sources, killing fish and other animals and leaving water from local rivers and streams unfit to drink, sources say.

    Lao Villagers Sickened by Chemical Run-off From Chinese Banana Farms

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    The chinky locusts at it again.

  3. #3
    I'm in Jail

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    Yes...par for the course. But I wonder if any people there or Cambodia have the balls to riot and kick out the Chinese "thin end of the wedge" invaders ?

  4. #4
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    Is it just a "coincidence" that "we" are suddenly soooo outraged whatever bad the Chinese do around the world? How considerate from "us"...

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    The chinky locusts at it again.
    Again? Did they ever fucking stop??

    The FBI will be along shortly with some moronic post highlighting his inability to figure out the reality for himself, but he'll hint that he's that only one who does get it

  6. #6
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Latindancer View Post
    Yes...par for the course. But I wonder if any people there or Cambodia have the balls to riot and kick out the Chinese "thin end of the wedge" invaders ?
    Unfortunately the people at the top are trousering too much cash to want to change things, and anyone who dares to point out the injustice is an "enemy of the state"....

  7. #7
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    If you google the headline the same story surfaces in 2017, 2018, 2019, and now 2020. Same location. Nothing will be done.

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by marcusb View Post
    If you google the headline the same story surfaces in 2017, 2018, 2019, and now 2020. Same location. Nothing will be done.
    Yes, they move from area to area, poisoning the land with pesticide until it can't grow anything, and then on to the next.

    Traditional, locust-like parasites.

  9. #9
    I'm in Jail

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    These toxic chemicals will, of course, accumulate in the flesh of fish which will be eaten way, waaay downstream and people will sicken and possibly die. Lives, livelihoods and families will be ruined. But the Chinese will not be able to be held accountable.

    This dismays, disgusts, depresses and highly irritates me.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    Is it just a "coincidence" that "we" are suddenly soooo outraged whatever bad the Chinese do around the world? How considerate from "us"...
    It's not a "coincidence" (who are you quoting?) and it's not "suddenly" (who are you quoting?) and who is "us"? (who are you quoting?)

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    the people at the top are trousering too much cash
    The Laos law makers and enforcers, the local farm managers or the corporate owners?

    I see archaic agriculture management and imported systems here in Thailand. Many, here on TD, have voiced their opinion of trying to bring their family 'experts" into the 21st century. Only to realise that enhancing the embedded knowledge requires the patients of a saint.

    My FIL, noticing the improved growth of my saplings, last summer invested in an irrigation system. Prior to that he relied on natural rainfall predominantly.The results this year; more and better quality produce from his existing trees, higher % of grade 1 produce and improved growth of his own replacement saplings.

    More profit from new procedures takes time to be adopted. Once word gets out things will change.

    Laos has not received any assistance from it's previous "owners", just left to fester.

    China, in this thread, will want world class products to sell to all. There is no point in leaving the population, Laos in this thread, at a THB500/day income.

    It will take a while but the corporate investors in farms and those providing other customers with their products will prevail.

    For far too long the exploitive Empire model has deprived many countries of emancipation.

    The ability to scare the locals back to jungle life has been surpassed.

    Lao Villagers Sickened by Chemical Run-off From Chinese Banana Farms-stay-patient-trust-your-journey-jpg
    Last edited by OhOh; 22-05-2020 at 12:06 PM.
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    The Laos law makers and enforcers, the local farm managers or the corporate owners?
    Why does it matter to you who the chinkies bribe?

  13. #13
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    Why they cannot deal with it the Asian way and simply kidnap the plantation managers, decapitate them and stick the heads on pikes at the farm entrance is mystifying. Decimating Chinese is a good way to go with the bastards. When they took the piss in Vietnam and fucked over the local work force Charlie got medieval on their asses and strung the Chink factory owner up in the ensuing riot.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by panama hat View Post
    It's not a "coincidence" (who are you quoting?) and it's not "suddenly" (who are you quoting?) and who is "us"? (who are you quoting?)
    It's a common knowledge: when carrying on speaking to one idiot, after few seconds there are two idiots...

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    It's a common knowledge: when carrying on speaking to one idiot, after few seconds there are two idiots...
    Is this when you're talking to yourself?

    Now, be a good tovarish and go back to the topic.

    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    The ability to scare the locals back to jungle life has been surpassed.
    True . . . the Chinese just poison them instead

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