Parents of China lead victims fear for future

The landscape near Hengjiang village offers a picture-postcard view of China, with rice paddies, water buffaloes and rolling green hills. It seems an unlikely spot to find industrial pollution.

A young Chinese girl gets a free blood test at a clinic in Wugang, central China's Hunan province to check if she has lead poisoning. Two environmental officials in central China are being investigated after more than 1,300 children tested positive for suspected lead poisoning.

But more than 1,300 children in this rural part of central Hunan province have tested positive for suspected lead poisoning, caused by a nearby manganese smelting plant, and parents are worried, confused and scared about the future.

"In late July, the children here started feeling unwell -- they had headaches, they couldn't sleep and were generally quite weak," said one 40-year-old man whose 13-year-old daughter has been affected.

The man, who refused to give his name for fear of trouble with the local authorities, said a group of parents complained to officials at the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping town, but they were ignored.

Now, the factory has been shut down, two plant executives have been detained, one is on the run, and two officials from the local environmental protection bureau are under investigation for dereliction of duty.

Another smelting plant in northern Shaanxi province was ordered to close its doors this month after more than 850 children were found to have lead poisoning, according to official reports.

The twin incidents highlight how China's rapid industrialisation over the last 30 years has led to widespread environmental damage, resulting in some of the world's worst water and air pollution.

Many poverty-stricken regions in China's rural interior have allowed the establishment of high-polluting industries without the necessary environmental standards in a desperate bid to boost economic growth, state media has said.

The manganese plant in Wenping -- which residents say has been spewing black smoke and dust since it opened more than a year ago -- was unlicensed, state media reported.

It is located within 500 metres (yards) of a primary school, a middle school and a nursery, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

In both Hunan and Shaanxi, angry villagers protested, demanding answers.

So far, they don't have any, and they fear for their children's future.

The father of the 13-year-old girl in Hengjiang says the lead level in her blood was 120 milligrams per litre -- surpassing the normal reading of between zero and 100 milligrams. His nine-year-old son so far is healthy.

"Most of the cases so far have not been that serious, but we really don't know what is going on. It's the unknown that scares us," he said.

Another villager, who also asked not to be named, approached, clutching requests sent to four local children to undergo secondary exams at a hospital in the provincial capital Changsha.

"They gave us initial results, and now they want to do new tests -- what does that mean?" he said.

In preliminary tests, 1,354 children -- 70 percent of those under the age of 14 in four villages near the plant including Hengjiang -- were found to have elevated lead levels in their blood.

A reading of more than 200 milligrams is considered hazardous. Children are more vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can harm the nervous system and impair motor skills.

The lead poisoning scare comes less than a year after China was rocked by a massive contaminated milk scandal. Six infants died and 300,000 fell ill after consuming products tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical.

"The reason why children are often victims here is specific to China," Zhao Lianhai, who leads an activist group for parents whose children consumed bad milk, told AFP.

"There is a lack of responsibility, and of willingness to investigate to the end to find out who is responsible. Officials protect each other, and there is a laissez-faire attitude towards their corruption."

Near the Wugang plant, one villager lambasted a local Communist Party boss who criticised the factory's failure to abide by environmental standards in the local press.

"On the day the plant opened its doors, he was there," the man said with visible disdain.