In March this year, one of the parents of the affected children took the neighboring cement plant to court.

　　A series of questions followed: Do the cement plant's emissions meet standards? How to determine whether fetal developmental abnormalities are related to the cement plant? Why have the villagers next to the cement plant still not been relocated?

　　Fetal abnormalities appeared the year after production began

　　Tianrui Group Xiaoxian Cement Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xiaoxian Cement Plant") is located near Miaojie Village and officially began production in November 2010. However, starting the next year, multiple cases of fetal developmental abnormalities occurred successively around the cement plant.

　　In 2011, villager Zhu Qian of Miaojie Village was nearly 4 months pregnant when an ultrasound examination revealed fetal developmental abnormalities, and the pregnancy was terminated. In March of the same year, villager Liang Jiguo's daughter died 10 days after birth due to congenital heart malformation. In September 2013, villager Wang Yu's grandson, 5 months old, was reported by the hospital to have severe intellectual disability and an extra chromosome 21. In October of the same year, villager Zhang Pan, who lives not far from Wang Yu's home, was nearly 6 months pregnant when an ultrasound examination revealed fetal developmental abnormalities, and the pregnancy was terminated.

　　Jin Hao, the village party secretary of Miaojie Village, said that these cases all occurred within an area less than 400 meters from the cement plant. In addition to these cases, two cases of "infant developmental delay" also occurred in this area. More and more villagers began to suspect the Xiaoxian Cement Plant near Miaojie Village. Among the parents of these affected children, Wang Yu was rather special; in mid-March this year, he took the Xiaoxian Cement Plant to court.

　　Difficult to determine the relationship between pollution and illness

　　Wang Yu never expected that his grandson's condition was "Down syndrome" caused by genetic mutation. "No similar situation has ever occurred in our family for generations." According to a 0-6 year old children's neuropsychological development examination report issued by the Child Health Department of Huaibei People's Hospital, Wang Yu's grandson has severe intellectual disability. A chromosome examination report issued by Xuzhou Children's Hospital showed that the child has an extra chromosome 21, which is Down syndrome. On May 8, the case was heard for the second time. In response to Wang Yu's allegations, the defendant's lawyer argued that the waste gas emissions from Xiaoxian Cement Plant meet standards and are not the cause of Down syndrome, and requested that he go to a medical appraisal institution in Xuzhou to determine the cause of the disease.

　　Wang Wei, deputy chief physician of the Shanghai Institute of Medical Genetics and Shanghai Children's Hospital, told the Morning Post reporter that there are no medical means to identify which pollutant or virus caused the birth defect of a specific Down syndrome patient.

　　Environmental Protection Bureau says "emissions meet standards"

　　The Morning Post reporter saw from the evidence list provided by Wang Yu that the defendant's lawyer provided four documents issued by the Anhui Provincial Development and Reform Commission and other authorities to prove that the construction and production of Xiaoxian Cement Plant were approved by the national competent authorities and passed environmental impact assessment and environmental protection acceptance.

　　The defendant's lawyer also provided "Monitoring Reports" on waste gas and other monitoring items issued by the Suzhou Environmental Protection Monitoring Station from 2011 to 2013 to prove that since production began, Xiaoxian Cement Plant has been continuously monitored by environmental protection departments, and all emissions comply with national standard limits.

　　Li Yuqing, deputy director of the Suzhou Environmental Protection Bureau in charge of energy conservation and emission reduction, assured the Morning Post reporter that the emissions from Xiaoxian Cement Plant absolutely meet standards. "We have a real-time monitoring system; emissions at every moment can be seen and are published." Li Yuqing said, "Cement plants do not emit sulfur dioxide. Power plants use lime for desulfurization, and cement plants burn lime. What is mainly emitted there is nitrogen oxides." However, the environmental impact assessment report of Xiaoxian Cement Plant compiled by the Anhui Provincial Academy of Environmental Science in 2008 clearly indicated that its gaseous pollutants mainly include sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. In the 2013 completion acceptance public announcement by the Anhui Provincial Environmental Protection Department, the sulfur dioxide emissions of the project were 57.24 tons/year. On May 6, Long Daojin, secretary of the Xiaoxian County Party Committee, said that the main pollution from the cement plant is dust; how could it cause deformities?

　　Villagers' relocation once stalled

　　What is the health protection distance of Xiaoxian Cement Plant? Does it really affect the villagers of Miaojie Village? The Xiaoxian Environmental Protection Bureau is secretive about it.

　　According to certificates provided by Liu Sheng, section chief of the Xiaoxian Meteorological Bureau, and Yang Wubin, director, the average wind speed for the five years from 2003 to 2007 was 2.1 meters/second. According to the national "Health Protection Distance Standard for Cement Plants" (GB 18068-2000), the required health protection distance for Tianrui Group Xiaoxian Cement Plant is at least 400 meters. At present, Tianrui Group Xiaoxian Cement Plant has been in production for more than 3 years, but more than 120 households in Miaojie Village living within the health protection distance have still not been relocated.

　　However, the "Public Announcement on Acceptance of Phased Completion Environmental Protection Acceptance for the 4500t/d New Dry Process Cement Production Line Project of Tianrui Group Xiaoxian Cement Co., Ltd." published on the website of the Anhui Provincial Environmental Protection Department on January 18, 2013, stated that within the health protection distance, except for 16 households whose houses have been vacated and are being demolished, the rest have been demolished. Moreover, in the public opinion survey, 95% of respondents were satisfied with the environmental protection work of the project, and 5% were relatively satisfied.

　　On May 8, after the second hearing of the case, Wang Yu said that the defendant's lawyer argued that the demolition within the protection distance is the responsibility of the Xiaoxian County People's Government and has nothing to do with the cement plant. A person in charge of the Publicity Department of the Xiaoxian County Party Committee also said that enterprises are only responsible for economic development, and demolition is indeed done by the government.

　　Jin Hao, the village party secretary of Miaojie Village, said that from the end of 2010 to the beginning of 2011, Miaojie Village completed the measurement of villagers' houses that needed to be demolished. The reason they did not move afterward was that the resettlement site was not allowed to be used. The resettlement plot is north of Miaojie Village and is farmland of fellow villagers. Jin Hao introduced that it had already been requisitioned by the Xiaoxian County People's Government before 2010, and compensation had been distributed to the corresponding farmers. But it had been idle, and the villagers whose land was requisitioned continued to farm. Two years later, when households were to be relocated there, the farming villagers disagreed, on the grounds that after two years of idleness, it could be reclaimed without compensation. Jin Hao said the villagers misunderstood; that refers to enterprise land, which the government can reclaim without compensation if the enterprise does not use it for two years.

　　However, several villagers revealed another version: when the Xiaoxian County People's Government requisitioned the land, the compensation was more than 20,000 yuan per mu, and the next year the compensation for land requisition in neighboring villages was more than 30,000 yuan per mu, so these villagers whose land was requisitioned disagreed. "Recently, the Xiaoxian Economic Development Zone has designated a new area for demolition." Jin Hao said. But he said there is no specific timetable.

　　Xiaoxian Cement Plant has a prior record of bribery

　　The website of the Xiaoxian Economic Development Zone Management Committee shows that the first phase of the Xiaoxian Cement Plant involved an investment of 750 million yuan, with annual sales revenue of up to 500 million yuan and profits and taxes of about 80 million yuan, making it one of the enterprises contributing the most taxes and profits in the development zone.

　　A December 2011 research report by the Suzhou Economic Development Research Association, "Research Report on Xiaoxian's Strong Promotion of Industrial Expansion," stated: "Leaders take the lead in attracting large investors. When the cement project with an investment of 750 million yuan from Tianrui Group was introduced that year, at the critical moment when it was facing stagnation, the main responsible person of the county party committee set out from Xiaoxian at 4 a.m. and arrived at the Tianrui Group headquarters before work hours to explain the purpose. His sincerity moved the general manager, who agreed on the spot to build the plant in Xiaoxian."

　　According to a report by Justice Network, a website under the Supreme People's Procuratorate, Sun Jie, director of the Xiaoxian Environmental Protection Bureau, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for accepting 1.91 million yuan in bribes, deprived of political rights for two years, and had 100,000 yuan of personal property confiscated. Xiaoxian Cement Plant was one of the bribery-giving enterprises, and it was during this period that the cement plant was built and put into production. In February 2014, Wu Baoliang, the former county head of Xiaoxian who had represented the Xiaoxian County People's Government in signing the Xiaoxian Cement Plant project with Tianrui Group, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hefei Intermediate People's Court for accepting bribes, deprived of political rights for life. The court found that from 2003 to 2012, the defendant Wu Baoliang, taking advantage of his positions as deputy county head, county head, deputy secretary of the county party committee, and secretary of the county party committee of Xiaoxian, sought benefits for others in enterprise operations, job transfers, and other matters, and illegally accepted property worth more than 10 million yuan.