Image: Greenpeace
Greenpeace this week released a report on soil and rice crops sampled in villages close to a concentration of heavy metals smelters in China’s Hunan Province, “an area that ranks first in rice output and among the top five in nonferrous metals production.” The results showed that both rice and soil near the industrial complex are contaminated by heavy metals, including lead. “12 out of all 13 rice samples contained excessive levels of cadmium.” Read the “Cadmium rice” report at Greenpeace East Asia. Here’s a related piece at the New York Times.