China Calls for Action to Stop Lead Poisoning

DAZHAI, Sept 3 -- China's environmental protection minister has called for more effective measures to tackle heavy metal poisoning, state media said on Thursday, as anger grows amongst parents with children poisoned by lead.

    Incidents of lead poisoning have dogged China's heavy metal bases in Shaanxi, Hunan, Henan and Yunnan provinces, leading to closures of smelters and occasional protests by parents angry at their children's illness.]

    "The prevention of heavy metal pollution should be put in a more urgent and more important position," Environment Minister Zhou Shengxian told a national pollution prevention meeting, the Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily said.

    "Effective measures should be taken to cope with heavy metal pollution."

    Villagers in Dazhai in southwestern Yunnan province, the latest focal point of poisoning, say pollution has affected them and their farmland for a decade.

    They blame the incidents on a nearby industrial park, a collection of metal processing factories such as aluminium and copper smelting plants.

    "They have given us medicine for this, but this is caused by the pollution from the factories and they should be responsible for this," said Xu Guqin, 31, holding her year-old daughter inside her spartan home.

    Parents said children had lost their appetite and suffered from stomach pains and digestive problems.

    They believe the factories perched on hills across from their farmland are responsible for their children's sickness and are furious at the government's response to their cases.

    "Of course I am worried. But who can we ask for help?" said Yang Yewa, 35. "When we ask the government, they say there is no problem. They say there is no problem with the factories and they have passed the environmental standards."

    THREE MAJOR INCIDENTS

    Dazhai's incidents are the latest of three large-scale focal points of poisoning reported in state media over the past month. The reports say more than 200 children in Dazhai and nearby Yingpan village have been found to have excessive levels of lead in their blood.

    Lead poisoning, caused by repeated exposure to small amounts of the metal, builds up slowly and can harm a child's mental development. China is the world's top producer of lead.

    Lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and arsenic pollution will be the focus of current preventive work, the report added.

    The ministry has passed in principle a plan to tackle heavy metal pollution, it said in a separate statement on its website (www.zhb.gov.cn), without giving details.

    "It is necessary to cooperate with other departments and conduct a comprehensive rectification of heavy metal pollution," the statement said, possibly pointing to new checks on industry.

    The local environmental protection bureau has denied there is a direct link with industrial pollutants, saying the cases had been caused by factors such as exhaust emissions.

    Villagers say they had to pay for their own medical fees and they want the government to address the situation immediately.

    "Even if they give us free treatment, I think this is only treating the symptoms and not the root cause," said Chen Zhiming.

    "I think they should solve the problem by digging out the root cause. They should move the factories away or deal with them appropriately."

    The government has become increasingly worried about the environmental and health costs of pollution, and about rising public anger over the problem.

    "Mass incidents" -- or riots and protests -- sparked by environmental problems have been rising at a rate of 30 percent per year, according to minister Zhou.

    China, which has already set a target of closing 600,000 tonnes of outdated lead capacity in the next few years, plans to send inspectors to major lead producing provinces for environment checks, industry sources said.

    (Source: Reuters)