“Lao Villagers Sickened by Chemical Run-off From Chinese Banana Farms”, 15 May 2020

Chemical waste from Chinese-owned banana farms is polluting a river in Bokeo province in northern Laos, leaving local villagers who bathe in the stream with severe rashes and other skin disorders, Lao sources say…

“Children who go to bathe in the river later have rashes all over their bodies…” RFA’s source said.

“Only those of us living downstream [from the farms] have this problem. Those who live upstream have not been affected,” he said, adding that villagers suspect that chemical waste from the farms runs off into the river when it rains.

“Sometimes, workers may even pour chemicals directly into the river. We just don’t know,” he said…

An official from Bokeo’s Department of Agriculture and Forestry told RFA that he had recently visited Nam Fa and spoken to the villagers there, but had heard no complaints from them about their rashes or itching…

Concerns over chemical run-off from heavily polluting Chinese-owned banana plantations led in January 2017 to government orders forbidding new banana concessions, though many farms were left to operate under contracts valid for several more years.

Illnesses and deaths have long been reported among Lao workers exposed to chemicals on foreign-owned farms…

Chemical run-off from farms has also polluted many of the country’s water sources, killing fish and other animals and leaving water from local rivers and streams unfit to drink, sources say.