Toll of cancer misery rises in Shandong's petrochemical villages

It was a cold, gloomy early spring day in Jinnan village, Shandong province - fitting weather for a ceremony commemorating the death of a local man who had recently died of lung cancer. 

A young couple, who wished only to be known by their surnames Ma and Sha, dressed in white mourning robes to conduct the event last Thursday.

"My father-in-law was only 65," said Sha, 33. "He did not smoke much, but when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in December, it was already in the terminal stage."

She said her father-in-law was strong enough to work in the fields until September, when his health began to fail. "He was not able to eat much after that," she said.

Both Sha and Ma, her husband, say pollution from the petrochemical plants that surround their village may be a factor in the rising prevalence of cancer in recent years. Sha's father died of stomach cancer a few years ago.

"Too many villagers here develop cancer," said Ma. "Almost every family has a cancer patient."