More than one thousand angry villagers stormed a smelting plant in the northern Chinese province of Shaanxi on August 17 after 615 children were tested positive for abnormal lead levels in blood. One girl student reportedly attempted to commit suicide because she found she had excessive lead level in her blood.
About 615 children out of 731 between the age of 0-14 living in two villages near the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. at Changqing Township of Fengxiang County in Baoji have shown excessive amounts of blood lead after medical tests. Among the 166 children who were diagnosed with lead poisoning, 163 had medium-level lead poisoning and 3 had high-level lead poisoning which required hospitalization.
One villager from the Gaojutou Village told the Epoch Times, “At around 9 a.m. on August 17, more than one thousand female villagers from the Madaokou Village, Sunjianan Village, and Gaojutou Village went to the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. to protest in a rage.”
One of the women said, “Today about one thousand villagers, mostly women and including elderly women, went to the smelting company.” She said that her two children, aged 11 and 1, were all tested to have lead level of over 200 µg/L, far exceeding the normal level of 100 µg/L. “Such a high level of lead in such young children—how can I not be scared. It’s going to affect my kids’ education and future.”
Watch NTDTV report on "Lead-Poisoned Kids May Still Be Unsafe After Relocating."
She stated that after entering the smelting plan, they still found some workers. Angry villagers pushed down the several-hundred-meter long enclosure wall of the plant and smashed the windshields of about 20 big cargo cars.
Chinese media reported that a press conference was held on August 15 in Fengxiang county to announce that lead poisoning found in children were linked to environment pollution caused by the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. However, other factors cannot be ruled out. Zhao Weiping, vice Party Chief of the Dongling Group, apologized to parents of the children and promised to offer medical treatments to the sickened children.
Villagers also revealed that people over the age of 14 were not eligible to take the medical test for lead poisoning. Ma Jiaojiao, a high school student who lives in the Madaokou Village is over the age of 14, and she found that she had excessive amount of lead, at 400µg/L, in her blood after she got her blood tested.
One villager from the Madaokou Village told The Epoch Times that Ma Jiaojiao’s family found her trying to commit suicide by taking pesticide. “It must be that she felt so hopeless. She was transferred to Baoji City to undergo medical treatments. I don’t know how she is doing now.”
Read the original Chinese article.
