Children In China Are Being Poisoned

Lead poisoning and pollution are serious problems across the nation of China. It is said that roughly 10% of Chinese children have fallen ill from lead poisoning because of lead found in water, food, paint and other sources.

More than 600 people, including 103 children, suffered in the recent incident of mass lead poisoning in China.

In 2009 and 2010 thousands of children were affected by lead poisoning in several provinces as they resided close to battery factories or metal smelters.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported, the victims in the latest case were workers and their children in 25 family-run tinfoil processing workshops in Yangxunqiao, in Zhejiang province, eastern China. The workers and their families are constantly exposed to lead materials and lead which is applied in tinfoil processing.

The report revealed that the workshops have now closed down their operations.

In the same province in May 2010, 74 people were placed in custody and production suspended at hundreds of battery factories, following dozens of people becoming ill from cadmium and lead poisoning.

More than 1,300 children were poisoned in 2009 by a year-old manganese factory in Wenping Township, Hunan province, central China, according to one report. This was the second case in just two weeks.

The authorities detained two executives and closed the factory on suspicion of 'causing severe environment pollution'.

After news broke, approximately 700 villagers rioted over the lead poisoning. They smashed a local government sign and overturned police cars. Hunan is well-known for its heavy metal industry.

America recalled thousands of Chinese products for being faulty in 2007, because they were toxic, dangerous, or defective, including children's jewelry, dog food, toys, baby bibs, tools, tires, computer batteries and toothpaste.

Over 2,000 villagers, as well as more than 300 children, were sickened from lead poisoning by a smelting plant in Hui county, in Gansu province, north China in 2006. The factory was emitting dark fumes and thick clouds of dust and pumping out polluted waste water.

The authorities ordered the factory to stop production and to move a safer location.

Following an announcement from Beijing for plans for firmer control in response to reports of widespread pollution from heavy metals, local authorities are slowly moving to lower pollution. Currently local authorities are not forced to carry out costly tests for heavy metals, which accumulate over a period of time.

Although the use of lead has been widely outlawed, China still utilizes it because it is inexpensive, makes brilliant colours, flows on easily and is corrosive resistant.

Lead poisoning can destroy the nervous, reproductive and muscular systems, comas, brain damage and kidney failure. Children are mainly at risk.