”MADE IN CHINA” Ping.
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Posted on 11/24/2007 6:40:21 PM PST by JACKRUSSELL
(BEIJING) -- China will build sanitary toilets to reduce the incidence among the fishing population of schistosomiasis, a water-borne parasitic worm disease.
The toilets will mainly be built in five provinces: Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan.
These are places with a high incidence of the disease, according to a circular jointly released by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health.
The central government will provide up to 6,000 yuan (800 U.S. dollars) per toilet, and any additional cost must be covered by local governments, said the circular.
The siting and construction will be carried out according to the local incidence of the disease, reasonable distribution and convenience of users.
Schistosomiasis, a wasting disease that causes blood loss and tissue damage, afflicted many Chinese before the 1960s owing to widespread poor waste treatment in rural latrines, fishing boats and water.
Located south of the Yangtze River and home to China's largest freshwater lake -- Poyang Lake -- Jiangxi is one of the worst-affected areas for schistosomiasis, commonly known as snail fever. About 100,000 people live with the disease in Jiangxi.
And then they have to ensure proper waste disposal.
Somehow, I have this feeling that in a country who has such a cavalier attitude about waste products, they’re going to have a hard time preventing the sanitation companies from just dumping the waste in the local river.
Don’t crap where you eat.
Democrat solution: foreign aid to China.
See. Democrats are the original free-traders.
Changing the habits of an entire culture is going to be a very slow process.
I read somewhere (probably FR) that in India, they’ve finally begun to convince people to use indoor plumbing. They were told that it would help health, but still didn’t do it.
What changed things, was the women were tired of running the risk of being molested every time they went outdoors to do their duty. When they finally saw the safety aspect of indoor plumbing, they started using it. Of course, once you get used to it, going outdoors quickly loses its appeal. There’s a lot to be said for comfort and safety, not to mention, convenience. ( I’ve done my share of camping.)
Wouldn’t it be great if hand soap becomes the norm in these countries?
Indeed. A friend of mine made a documentary in Bangladesh. One of his most impressive shots -- he's very good at what he does -- started with children gathering water from the river. Her then slowly panned up the river, no more than a hundred yards, to someone exiting a "latrine" -- just an enclosed box with a hole in it on the end of a pier.
weegee: Don’t crap where you eat.
What makes you assume that the use of soap is not the norm there? Have you been to China? I have. We are talking about a country that is moving out of third world status. Once you get out of the cities there is a lot of poverty. People don't have the luxury of running water and indoor plumbing. You think that they get these diseases because they deserve them? They deserve them because they don't use soap or they intentionally go out there and "crap" where they eat? Maybe you think comments like that are clever .. I think they are thoughtless, cruel, and elitist!
Yes, they do have soap and they do wash. The problem is that everything is so backwards and there are little or no sanitary conditions. After years of dictatorial rule by leaders such as Mao, these things are finally becoming important in China. The fact that they are putting in these toilets is one indication of that.
When you see rivers like the Yangtze, which flows through major cities, with untreated human waste floating in it, its easy to understand why the people are getting sick.
weegee, nobody would go out and intentionally "crap" in water they need for drinking. The waste is picked up and dumped in the rivers.
Yes, China has a long way to go. Change is slowly taking place but it is happening in baby steps. Try to stop looking down your nose, and arrogantly making such unkind assumptions about the people.
Are you as warped as your post makes you appear?
Funny .. I was thinking the same thing of you. Apparently you are not capable of making debate .. only of posting sarcastic and meaningless one-liners.
I expected nothing from you .. and you delivered.
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