Lead-smelting plant accused of poisonings is demolished
By Wang Xiang |
March 20, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A LEAD-smelting factory in central China was demolished after villagers accused it of poisoning hundreds of children and the local government of playing down problems to keep the economy humming.
An official of Jiahe County government, Hunan Province, said only 83 children had higher lead levels in their blood than the national standard this January, and that no one showed symptoms of lead poisoning.
The government posted two pictures of the factory site looking deserted, saying the factory was closed in September, contrary to villager's accusation that the factory just shut down for a while to avoid checks.
More than 250 children were sickened by high levels of lead in the blood last September, according to the first health check ordered by local government.
Jiahe government said they offered milk to the 83 sickened kids as nutrition intervention. It will conduct a third health check this April.
Wang Guangjin, a senior official of the county, said sulphur dioxide discharged by the factory is mainly to blame for the pollution.
The government has started to fix cropland sterilized by acid rain and villagers were financially compensated, Wang said.
An unidentified doctor in the county told the Beijing News that because Hunan was a vital mining base in China, children were easily exposed to excessive lead in their blood.
He said a survey conducted in the past two years showed that 53 percent of 23,000 kids were found with excessive lead in their blood.
The county government did not answer media allegations that it detained several villagers for disturbing public order when they chartered a bus to see doctors in Guangzhou City last September, the newspaper said. The villagers were believed detained because officials thought they were going to report to higher authorities about the cases of toxicity.
An official of Jiahe County government, Hunan Province, said only 83 children had higher lead levels in their blood than the national standard this January, and that no one showed symptoms of lead poisoning.
The government posted two pictures of the factory site looking deserted, saying the factory was closed in September, contrary to villager's accusation that the factory just shut down for a while to avoid checks.
More than 250 children were sickened by high levels of lead in the blood last September, according to the first health check ordered by local government.
Jiahe government said they offered milk to the 83 sickened kids as nutrition intervention. It will conduct a third health check this April.
Wang Guangjin, a senior official of the county, said sulphur dioxide discharged by the factory is mainly to blame for the pollution.
The government has started to fix cropland sterilized by acid rain and villagers were financially compensated, Wang said.
An unidentified doctor in the county told the Beijing News that because Hunan was a vital mining base in China, children were easily exposed to excessive lead in their blood.
He said a survey conducted in the past two years showed that 53 percent of 23,000 kids were found with excessive lead in their blood.
The county government did not answer media allegations that it detained several villagers for disturbing public order when they chartered a bus to see doctors in Guangzhou City last September, the newspaper said. The villagers were believed detained because officials thought they were going to report to higher authorities about the cases of toxicity.
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