Living in Dioxinland
Dear Johnny,
As I’m sure you know, after the death of Walter Kronkite, a US poll was taken that revealed the “the most trusted man in news” is ... Jon Stewart, a comedian and satirist. Ironically, I find you — a satirist — to be the most lampa-laden journalist in Taiwan right now. [Johnny says: That’s a ballsy claim.]
So you are the only one I can turn to regarding recent revelations of dioxin pollution in Taiwan. I saw this coming, and have tried to convince people that this is a real problem for several years. All my words fell on deaf ears.
All of the media reports about the recent discoveries have conveniently failed to mention previous incidences of dioxin pollution on the island, such as the Changhua Duck Scandal about two years ago, or the more recent Alligator Mosquito Coil situation.
One of the consequences of the “Made in Taiwan” era of growth is a devil-may-care approach to industrial pollution.
The media is addressing this as a simple problem that can be “simply cleaned up.” Well, I don’t know if you were in the US during revelations of the poisoning that occurred in the Love Canal area of Buffalo in New York state, but when you deal with dioxins, you can’t simply clean them up.
When heavy metals invade the soil and ground water, the only solution is to abandon the area. A genuine clean-up requires decades and billions of dollars.
I have noticed an increase in the number of children with birth defects in Taiwan over the last decade. I fear this problem is more severe than anyone is willing to address. For an island so small and with such a high population density, the implications are frightening.
The Central News Agency reported on Dec. 5 that “Incinerators in Taiwan have been releasing an alarmingly high level of dioxin, a carcinogenic chemical, into the air,” according to Professor Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權) of National Taiwan University.
“Professor [Chan] made the remarks after analyzing a report by the non-profit Environmental Quality Protection Foundation.
“[Chan] said that the amount of dioxin released by the five incinerators in Taiwan is between 9.35 and 32.09 times higher than levels in the United States.
“The five incinerators are located in Neihu (內湖) and [Muzha, 木柵] in Taipei City, [Sindian, 新店] and [Shulin, 樹林] in Taipei County, and Wenshan (文山) in Taichung ...
“[Chan] said that according to the report, the biggest carcinogenic threat comes from the oldest incinerator in Neihu, with risks 494 times higher than those of the US.”
So I hope for your sake that “Neihu” is just a moniker, and that you don’t actually live there.
Do some research and get the word out, Johnny!
Quinn the Eskimo
Johnny replies: It seems to me that the research has already been done. Consider running this letter to be my way of getting the word out.
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