Protesting parents call for answers on poisoning
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.
'We've been told by county officials on Thursday that our children have been cured, but how could it be possible since they have yet to receive any treatment,' said Huang Dazhai , father of a five-year-old boy.
A hospital test on January 1 found that the lead concentration in his son's blood was 330.9mg per litre.
A level over 200mg is considered hazardous and can impair children's mental health and affect growth.
But both the hospital and county officials said the boy had a concentration of less than 50mg according to tests conducted by the provincial centre for disease control on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Citing provincial health authorities, a statement posted on the county government website on Thursday also tried to play down the poisoning scare by saying no abnormal lead levels were found in blood tests of the children admitted to hospital. But the authorities refused to show official test results to the parents.
Hua Shan, chief doctor at the hospital, told China Central Television it was normal for children to recover quickly from lead poisoning if they were kept away from the polluted environment and were given food therapy.
But Huang was not convinced because his son still had headaches, chronic fatigue and a lack of appetite.
Local authorities banned further testing for lead poisoning.
Additional reporting by Laura Zhou
