Angry parents of children suffering from lead poisoning in Anhui province protested outside their local government headquarters yesterday, questioning the authorities' handling of a pollution scandal that has seen more than 200 children fall ill.
Nearly 100 parents demonstrated in front of the county government office building yesterday and presented their demands to the county's Communist Party chief, Fan Xianhan , villagers in Gaohe, Huaining county said.
They urged the county government to permanently shut down two battery factories blamed for causing leaks of the toxic metal, provide proper treatment for all the victims and compensate them for economic losses caused by the pollution scare.
'Although officials promise to look into the scandal, we doubt they are serious about tackling the pollution problems because they have always brushed off our concerns in the past,' one demonstrator said.
More than 200 children from the same neighbourhood in Gaohe have been found to have excessive concentrations of lead in their blood, ranging from 100 to 400 milligrams per litre, compared with normal levels of between zero and 100mg.
Another 100 children living within 500 metres of the battery factories have yet to receive blood tests.
The protest came a day after health authorities in the eastern province ordered 24 children awaiting treatment for lead poisoning at the provincial children's hospital to be discharged, saying they had normal concentrations of lead in their blood.