Published 24 August 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3433
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3433

News

Metal smelting plants poison hundreds of Chinese children

Jane Parry

1 Hong Kong

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Lead poisoning has been diagnosed in hundreds of children living near two metal smelting plants in China, say China’s state news agency, Xinhua, and other media in China.

Of 1016 children living in three villages near the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Company plant in the central Shaanxi province who underwent blood tests to measure lead concentrations, 851 have excessive lead, including 174 serious cases. In one village 236 of the 285 children have lead poisoning. The number of villages where children will be offered free tests has been widened, and tests of adults living in villages closest to the plant have shown dangerously high levels of lead and cadmium.

Meanwhile, tests on 2000 children aged under 14 years from four villages near the Jinglian Manganese Smelting Plant near Wugang city, in the southern province of Hunan, showed that 1354 have blood lead concentrations in excess of 480 micromol/l (10 . . . [Full text of this article]


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