84 kids poisoned by lead in Yunnan mining area
By Wang Xiang |
July 27, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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EIGHTY four children in Southwest China Yunnan Province have been poisoned by lead from illegal smelters, authorities say - the latest in a string of heavy-metal pollution cases that have made hundreds sick over the last year.
A health check ordered by authorities in Yunnan's Heqing County, a place riddled with gold-mining extraction operations, has now reached 1,600 of 2,300 residents. The county authority said they expect the number of sickened children to increase once the check is completed.
All the sickened kids are now under treatment in Heqing County People's Hospital. The county government will pay for the medical bills, the locally based Yunnan Information Daily reported yesterday.
The children showed little symptoms of lead poisoning, although some of them had more than 450 micrograms of lead in their blood, almost double the safe range. Most have experienced only belly pains and diarrhea, the report said.
A test of the county's earth found more than 20,000 milligrams of lead in dry land, 80 times higher than the national standard for arable land, said Zhu Xueping, vice head of the local environmental protection bureau.
The local authority blames the lead poisoning on the villagers' illegal gold extraction operations.
Living on a massive gold mine, almost all the villagers in Heqing County do mining on their own. They use a deadly sodium cyanide solution, mix it with the gold ores, and add zinc to precipitate gold metal. The process generates lead fumes and poisonous solid waste.
After a crackdown on the illegal operation, many villagers built their extraction ponds inside their house to avoid punishment, the report said.
But villagers said the poisoning was caused by several large mines in the county. Two of the mines that produce lead were not licensed, they said. "Smoke discharged from the large mines covered everything in the county with ashes," one villager was quoted by the report.
Four local mines have been suspended from production. They are awaiting an expert's opinion on whether they were responsible for the incidence.
Lead poisoning, which often builds up slowly as a result of repeated exposure to small amounts of lead, can damage various parts of the body including the nervous and reproductive systems and the kidneys.
Lead is especially harmful to the developing brains of young children, and can cause irreversible consequences, including learning difficulties and behavior problems.
A health check ordered by authorities in Yunnan's Heqing County, a place riddled with gold-mining extraction operations, has now reached 1,600 of 2,300 residents. The county authority said they expect the number of sickened children to increase once the check is completed.
All the sickened kids are now under treatment in Heqing County People's Hospital. The county government will pay for the medical bills, the locally based Yunnan Information Daily reported yesterday.
The children showed little symptoms of lead poisoning, although some of them had more than 450 micrograms of lead in their blood, almost double the safe range. Most have experienced only belly pains and diarrhea, the report said.
A test of the county's earth found more than 20,000 milligrams of lead in dry land, 80 times higher than the national standard for arable land, said Zhu Xueping, vice head of the local environmental protection bureau.
The local authority blames the lead poisoning on the villagers' illegal gold extraction operations.
Living on a massive gold mine, almost all the villagers in Heqing County do mining on their own. They use a deadly sodium cyanide solution, mix it with the gold ores, and add zinc to precipitate gold metal. The process generates lead fumes and poisonous solid waste.
After a crackdown on the illegal operation, many villagers built their extraction ponds inside their house to avoid punishment, the report said.
But villagers said the poisoning was caused by several large mines in the county. Two of the mines that produce lead were not licensed, they said. "Smoke discharged from the large mines covered everything in the county with ashes," one villager was quoted by the report.
Four local mines have been suspended from production. They are awaiting an expert's opinion on whether they were responsible for the incidence.
Lead poisoning, which often builds up slowly as a result of repeated exposure to small amounts of lead, can damage various parts of the body including the nervous and reproductive systems and the kidneys.
Lead is especially harmful to the developing brains of young children, and can cause irreversible consequences, including learning difficulties and behavior problems.
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