Ministry sued for failing to provide pollution data
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E-mail China Daily, April 5, 2012
A man is preparing to sue the Ministry of Environmental Protection for failing to provide information about the emissions from an incineration factory, which, he claimed, paralyzed his son's brain.
Xie Yong, from Hai'an county, Nantong, in Jiangsu province, said he plans to sue the ministry to force it to disclose the information. He claimed that the pollution caused his 4-year-old son's brain paralysis and epilepsy shortly after he was born.
Xie said he will formally sue the ministry at the High People's Court of Jiangsu once materials are prepared.
Xie claimed that his son's condition was caused by poisonous gas, flying ash, cinder and waste liquid released by the incineration plant, located 200 meters from his home.
In June 2010, Xie sued the factory at a county-level court, but lost the case because he had no evidence to support his accusation, he said.
He then asked the local environmental protection bureau to provide data about the plant's emissions. The bureau rejected his request.
He then asked the Ministry of Environmental Protection for access to the emissions information, but that request was also turned down. The ministry said it was the environmental protection bureau's duty to monitor and supervise an individual factory, according to Xie.
That prompted him to think of suing the ministry.
"Taking the ministry to court is my last choice," said Xie. "It's the only way I can get justice."
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