環保部已着手調查常州外國語學校污染問題

The Ministry of Environmental Protection started an investigation on last Sunday into what caused about 500 students at Changzhou Foreign School in Jiangsu province to come down with a range of pollution-related illnesses.

中國環保部已於上週日就江蘇省常州外國語學校約500名學生因何患上一系列與污染有關的疾病展開調查。

Since Changzhou Foreign Languages School relocated to its current site in September, a total of 493 students at the school have developed abnormal blood parameters and diseases such as dermatitis, eczema and bronchitis, while some have even been diagnosed with leukemia and lymphoma.

自去年9月該校搬至現址後，共有493名學生出現血液指標參數異常，患上皮炎、溼疹、支氣管炎等疾病，個別學生甚至被查出了白血病和淋巴癌。

The local government confirmed the new campus was built on a brownfield site that had housed three chemical factories. The plants had produced highly toXic chemicals including carbofuran and methomyl.

當地政府證實，新校園的建造地點此前曾經是三家化工廠的所在地。植物產生了包括呋喃丹、滅多威在內的多種劇毒化學品。

People who formerly worked in the factories said they had buried toxic chemicals near the plants to save time and money. They also spoke of discharging untreated wastewater into rivers.

以前曾在工廠工作的人員表示，他們把有毒的化學物質埋在植物附近，以此來節省時間和金錢。他們還談到了曾將未經處理的廢水排入河流中。

The level of pollutants detected in the groundwater and soil at the site were excessively above safety standards, with chlorobenzene levels 100,000 times higher than the standard.

經檢測，該地塊地下水和土壤中的污染物水平嚴重超出安全標準，其中氯苯水平超標10萬倍。

Pan Xiaochuan, a professor at the public health school under Peking University, was quoted by China Central Television as saying that the high number of students being diagnosed with diseases and conditions in such a short space of time should be connected with the heavy pollution levels.

中央電視臺援引北京大學公共衛生學院教授潘小川的話稱，在這麼短的時間內，有這麼多的學生被診斷出患有疾病，這應該是與嚴重污染程度有關聯的。

Professors specializing in environmental issues told CCTV the environmental assessment report that justified the construction of the new campus did not look for pesticides. And they said that builders had used heavily polluted groundwater during the construction process.

另外，專門從事環境問題研究的教授接受中央臺採訪時表示，環境評估報告顯示，新校區的建設工作中並沒有考慮到農藥的成分。教授們表示，建築工人在施工過程中使用的正是大量受污染的地下水。