Xinhua news reports that the Chinese government plans to relocate 77,000 people from the Tibetan region of Aba by 2013 in order to avoid Kaschin-Beck disease. The cause of the degenerative bone disease is a mystery, but it may be caused by a fungus found in a strain of barley grown in the region, highland barley, combined with a deficiency of selenium and iodine. The current rate of the disease in that region of Tibet is 20%. The government will provide housing, clean drinking water and a monthly rice allowance to replace their staple food of barley.