Blood tests for residents in Hong Kong tainted water scare 'normal'
Scores of people, anxious about the tainted water supply on their estate, queue at hospital, while the first nine are given the all-clear
Scores of people affected by a tainted water scare rushed to hospital for blood tests yesterday - despite the fact results for the first nine people tested showed "normal" levels of lead.
About 100 residents of Kai Ching Estate in Kowloon City, where the level of lead in drinking water was found to exceed the World Health Organisation standard of 10 micrograms per litre, queued for the free tests. A total of 800 people from housing estates at the centre of concerns have signed up for tests.
The fortnight-old row has become a political hot potato amid fears more homes are affected.
The nine people whose tests results were released yesterday - seven adults and two children - lived in homes from which the first samples of tainted water were taken.
But despite their negative results, other Kai Ching residents headed to United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong for testing.
"I am very worried that the contaminated water would affect my son, especially his brain development," said one man as he queued for a shuttle bus with his five-year-old child.