Sun Nov 5, 1:41 AM ET
47 Chinese children have lead poisoning

BEIJING - Forty-seven primary school children in eastern China have been found to have excessive lead in their blood, the latest such case to hit the country.
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Tests on the children from a school in Fujian Province's Qili Village by the Disease Prevention and Control Center determined the high lead levels, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Saturday.

It said one 7-year-old boy was been hospitalized for moderate lead poisoning, and that the Meiheng Smelting Co. in the village was the suspected the source of the lead.

Environmental problems have escalated recently as China's economy booms, with some of the disasters prompting violent protests against local and provincial governments.

In September, Xinhua said at least four children — among hundreds of people sickened by emissions from a lead smelter in western China — likely suffered permanent brain damage.

A Chinese environmental official was quoted as saying the factory was emitting 800 times the acceptable levels, and accusing local authorities of failing to do anything.

About 250 children were hospitalized weeks after the mass poisoning case was uncovered in Hui county in Gansu province, Xinhua said. It said they were being treated with vitamin supplements and most were in stable condition.

Many of the China's environmental disasters have been blamed on companies which, counting on lax enforcement of regulations, find it easier and cheaper to dump poisons into rivers and the ground instead of treating them.


Children are always a target for death and disease. How do we keep our children safe?

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