DTiNews investigated claims from local people in Ha Tinh province that a rubber company was poisoning the environment.

Behind the latex depot is a flow of toxic sewage directly discharged into the environment

Huong Vinh commune located in Huong Khe district, central Ha Tinh province, have been expressing serious concerns to agencies and begging for help to deal with environmental pollution as a result of Ham Nghi Latex Farm, owned by Ha Tinh Rubber Company.

This is the second time the company has been sued for discharging untreated sewage into the environment after its latex processing factory in early September faced administrative fines for infractions.

In a recent fact-finding trip to the commune, reporters found that up to 80 households in Vinh Ngoc Hamlet are living in very polluted conditions with stenches originating from waste-water of the farm\'s latex warehouse.

“We are being tortured by the pollution. Each strong gust of wind brings more of the terrible smell to our houses which makes breathing difficult. We still feel the bad smell despite closing the doors. Sometimes, I hold my nose and mouth with towels to avoid the stink," said villager Tran Thi Vinh.

Another villager said the waste often flew into her garden during rains and worried that this would contaminate her water source.

Others moaned that ever since the warehouse was put into operation, more locals have become ill. The untreated waste also poured into Nay field, infiltrating the soil. Many plots of land have become white marshes full of latex waste which can kill animals and plants.

Over the past year, the locals have sought assistance numerous times however, they have not yet received any feedback. Mrs. Vinh said “All our proposal efforts have been in vain. Will it take us being near death before something is done?"

The latex depot is sparsely built with four walls and a roof covered with fibro-cement sheets. It does not have any waste treatment stations. They use a small gutter dug to discharge the waste-water into the surroundings.

In an interview with reporters, Chairman of Huong Vinh Commune, Tran Van Thanh, admitted that the Ha Tinh Rubber Company was indeed committing environmental violations, adding that he had send a document to ask the firm to improve the situation but had not yet gotten a reply.

Leaders of the company explained that the latex output surpassed the set processing capacity, while construction of their new processing factory is still underway.

They might consider stopping operations of the warehouse and gathering latex for the processing in the forthcoming time.

Waste-water flowing into Vinh Ngoc Hamlet

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuy said she often got pollution-caused illnesses

Latex wastes kills wild weeds