The Ministry of Health has weighed into the toxic metal pollution scandal in Anhui province, but its assertion that children suffering from lead poisoning had fully recovered within days was widely questioned by victims' parents yesterday.
Parents also expressed anger at the compensation of 400 yuan (HK$470) they had received from authorities in Huaining county, Anqing, about three weeks after the outbreaks of lead poisoning that saw more than 200 children ill.
According to the provincial health authorities yesterday, two experts from the health ministry had upheld the provincial centre for disease control's finding last week that no excessive concentrations of lead were found in the blood of 24 children admitted to hospital for treatment.
The experts were dispatched to Anhui on Sunday after more than 100 parents took to the street and protested outside the county government demanding proper treatment and a thorough investigation.
The provincial health authorities were already under fire after they insisted that lead levels in the blood samples of children awaiting treatment at the provincial children's hospital, aged between nine months and 16 years, had fallen from over 250 milligrams per litre to less than 50mg/l - meaning normal - in a few days.
But the ministry experts stood by the finding, citing more accurate equipment and techniques used.
While children were more vulnerable to lead poisoning, they were also likely to recover more speedily than adults as long as they left the polluted environment, the experts said.