Parents left in dark as children suffer from lead poisoning

       Every parent in the village of Sunjianantou knows exactly how much lead is in their child's blood after 800 youngsters living near a smelting plant tested positive for lead poisoning this month.
       But like millions of other Chinese villagers tight up against smelters,industrial plants and mines, the parents of Sunjianantou, in Shaanxi province,have very little idea of the dangers of lead poisoning, how it occurs, or how to avoid it. Nor are they likely to find out.
       "Please tell us, can the lead ever go away or not?" asked the mother of Pengfei, eight, whose test results of 249 micrograms per litre explain how an active boy slowly turned pale and listless.
       "We get our water from our family well. We have no idea if it is safe enough,or what to do about food. The government isn't testing adults, so we don't even know if we are poisoned too."
       The acceptable level of lead in blood in the US is 10 micrograms per litre.
       In China, the average level for children under six living in cities is 59.52 micrograms per litre.
       This month, two cases of lead poisoning of children living near metal smelters came to light in Chinese villages thousands of kilometres apart, showing the prevalence of the problem.
       Parents from Sunjianantou and other villages attacked the Dongling lead smelter this week, after hundreds of children living near the smelter tested with high lead levels.
       On Aug 8, parents blocked a road and flipped a police car in Wenping town,southwestern Hunan, in protest against toxins from a manganese smelter.
       In that town,1,354 children tested with blood lead levels of over 100 micrograms per litre.
       A child who ingests large amounts of lead may develop anaemia, muscle weakness and brain damage. Where poisoning occurs, it is usually gradual.
       Protests against pollution are increasingly common in China, though police normally try and nip them in the bud before they become violent.
       In other cases, officials show up and mollify residents with promises of financial or other aid.
       In Sunjianantou, parents who spoke with foreign reporters were visited by local officials and warned not to do so again. At least 10 police cars were stationed outside the idled smelter. A dozen more patrolled the main street.
       "Mass incidents"- or riots and protests - sparked by environmental problems have been rising at a rate of 30%per year, said China's environmental protection minister, Zhou Shengxian.
       At the same time, the boom in metal prices has made investment in mines and smelters very profitable, and dangerously polluting plants have sprung up across the Chinese countryside.
       Local officials, who worry about losing a large taxpayer and employer and may even have a stake in the projects, often turn a blind eye to safety and environmental violations.
       When protests or a crisis does occur,local governments react by shutting the plant, detaining troublesome villagers and paying the rest, or offering emergency medical treatment.
       "When a problem bursts out in the media, the government suddenly 'solves'it," said Zhang Jingjing, a lawyer with the Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims."But that's usually not a good result, it's just a way to make the problem go away." She is trying to bring a lead poisoning case to court to set a precedent that could be used against polluting plants across China.
       Children with relatively light poisoning are supposed to be treated at home, but such is the level of distrust of local government some parents are even unwilling to give their children the recommended medicine.