Chinese Battery Maker Suspended After Lead Poisoning

SHANGHAI, Sept. 29 -- A battery manufacturer in China's Fujian province has been shut down after more than 100 children came down with lead poisoning, a source reports.

    State media estimate that about 120 children have been poisoned.

    "More than 100 children were found with lead poisoning in Shanghang, Fujian," said the source.

    "The provincial environment protection bureau has asked the factory to shut down immediately, without a timetable as when it can resume," he said.

    No other lead product manufacturer or lead smelter in the area has been shut down and market participants do not expect a series of closures like the shutdowns from late August that caused LME lead prices to surge.

    "Fujian is not a major producer of lead," noted an analyst who had read the about the incident in the local press.

    The market effect of the incident is expected to be minimal, especially as no smelter in the province has been shut down, he agreed.

    Still, the central government has promised to come down heavily on plants that fail to meet environmental standards.

    Pollution have become increasingly prominent and local officials who turn a blind eye to heavy polluters will be punished, said Zhang Lijun, vice-minister at the ministry of environmental protection in a China Daily report on Monday.

    Meanwhile, some industry officials remain unconvinced that the string of smelters shut down from mid-August, triggered by the suspension of Shaanxi Dongling Lead & Zinc Smelting Group, are responsible for the lead poisoning incidents.

    China Nonferrous Metals Industry Assn director Shang Fushan previously said that there was no direct evidence linking local lead smelters to the lead poisoning incidents in the past weeks.

    "Although some lead smelters have been ordered to shut down, after Shaanxi Dongling, as far as I know, most environment indicators from big smelters are well above the national standard," he said.

    An official at a local lead smelter echoed this, adding that most of the shut smelters were closed for political reasons.

    "The stability of the country is the top priority of Chinese local governments ahead of China's 60th year celebration," said the official.

    "So some lead smelters were asked to shut down to comfort local villagers who are in fear of lead poisoning after Shaanxi Dongling."

    (Source: Metal Bulletin)