Scarier Than Toxic Food, Riskier Than Tofu-Dreg Projects? Toxic Buildings Emerged

Homeowners in Suzhou’s Jinxiu Lanshan community are on the brink of despair. A lawsuit over the “billion-yuan toxic land“ in Suzhou has revealed that the soil where their homes were built is contaminated with carcinogenic substances exceeding safe limits by 50 times. This essentially makes their buildings toxic! Not only are their homes now uninhabitable, but they also fear for their health after having unknowingly lived in such conditions for years, possibly accumulating toxins in their bodies and increasing their risk of cancer. Those who bought homes but haven’t moved in yet face significant financial losses due to either unfinished construction or plummeting property values. Three years ago, they bought these properties at 35,000 yuan ($4,812) per square meter. Last month, amid a slump in the real estate market, this price had already fallen to 25,000 yuan. Now, following the revelation of the toxic land, some secondary market prices have dropped to as low as 5,000 yuan per squa