The children, all under the age of 14, have been taken to hospital. Four show signs of lead poisoning. Official from government environmental agency blames local authorities, guilty in his opinion of protecting local plants.

Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) – Some 250 children sickened by emissions from a lead smelter in western China remain in hospital weeks after the mass poisoning case was uncovered and at least four are likely to suffer permanent brain damage, state media reported on Friday. For a top Chinese environmental agency official, "the plants appeared to cause the pollution, but in fact the root of the problem lies in the local governments and local protectionism".

Four of the children from Hui County in Gansu province are reported to have more than 450 milligrams of lead per litre of blood—a level which constitutes severe poisoning and that usually results in brain damage. But at least 877 people in the county, including 334 children under the age of 14, have tested positive for excessive amounts of lead in their blood since August.

The Xinhua news agency reported that the 250 hospitalised children are being treated with vitamin supplements and most are in stable condition.

The pollution has been traced to the Hui County Non-Ferrous Metal Smelting Plant Co, a ten-year-old factory that was allegedly warned several times by environmental officials to stop discharging pollutants but continued to do so.

In 2003, the plant released 201 tons of lead into the atmosphere, 800 times acceptable levels, Pan Yue, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said.

This case and another in Hunan province where two factories were found to have been dumping arsenide and other pollutants into a river for at least a year were, in his words, "typical examples of pollution problems caused by a dereliction of duty" by local officials."

Moreover, he noted, "the plants appeared to cause the pollution, but in fact the root of the problem lies in the local governments and local protectionism".

There have been no reported arrests or punishments for breaking the law, but the smelter has agreed to compensate affected villagers but details of the compensation have not been released. 

• china
• gansu
• hui
• county
• pollution
• children
• pan
• yue