TR EMERITUS

Medical authorities in central China have discovered more than 1,300 cases of suspected lead poisoning in children, state media said Thursday, in the second such incident this month.

Authorities in the city of Wugang in Hunan province have shut down a smelting plant and detained two of the company’s executives on suspicion of “causing severe environmental pollution”, the Xinhua news agency said.

Locals had complained of large amounts of thick smoke and dust coming out of the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant since it began operations in May last year, it said.

A total of 1,354 children — or about 70 percent of those under the age of 14 that lived in four villages near the smelter — were found to have levels of lead in their blood that exceed safety standards, the report said.

Seventeen of the most severely affected have been hospitalised.

A primary school, a middle school and a kindergarten are located within a 500-metre (1,650-foot) radius of the plant, which was shut down last week, it added.

Provincial medical teams were conducting secondary tests to confirm the initial results.

So far, they have found 45 cases in which lead levels exceeded 200 milligrams per litre, it said.

Lead levels of between zero and 100 milligrams are considered normal. A reading of more than 200 milligrams is considered hazardous, with children more vulnerable to lead poisoning which can harm the nervous system.

The Wugang incident comes on the heels of another case in northern Shaanxi province, where more than 850 children have been affected by lead poisoning caused by pollution from a smelting plant, according to Xinhua.

More than 170 children in Shaanxi’s Changqing township were hospitalised, the agency said.

On Monday, villagers stormed the Shaanxi smelter, smashing trucks in anger at the case. The plant has also been shut down.

China’s rapid industrialisation has led to widespread environmental damage over the last 30 years, with the nation boasting some of the world’s worst water and air pollution.

Source: AFP

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