CHINESE AUTHORITIES are blocking access to tests and treatment for children at risk of lead poisoning, according to a report issued yesterday by rights watchdog Human Rights Watch.
The US-based group said some local officials affected by the widening pollution scandal withhold and falsify test results to reduce health costs and maintain the economic vitality of factories.
Since 2008, China has been wracked by more than a dozen lead poisoning incidents, affecting thousands of people and often prompting violent attacks against the smelting plants and battery factories that are responsible for the contamination.
In the most recent case, villagers in Menxi smashed computers and other equipment at the offices of Zhejiang Haijiu Battery Factory last month after more than 300 adults and children were found to have up to seven times the safe limit of lead in their blood.
A gradual build-up of lead in the bloodstream can damage the nervous system and lead to anaemia, muscle weakness, arrested development, attention disorder and brain damage.
In many cases, local people have long complained of health problems and unusual behaviour by their children, but the authorities have ignored them because the factories are an important source of jobs, taxes and, sometimes, bribes.
After an investigation in four provinces (Henan, Hubei, Yunnan and Shaanxi), Human Rights Watch said some authorities resort to more extreme methods to put a lid on the problem.
“Children with dangerously high levels of lead in their blood are being refused treatment and returned home to contaminated houses in polluted villages,” said Joe Amon, health and human rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Parents, journalists, and community activists who dare to speak out about lead are detained, harassed, and ultimately silenced.”
The central government has promised to step up efforts to deal with this growing health and social problem in its latest five-year economic plan. For the first time last year, the state set aside 1.5bn yuan for prevention and control of heavy metal pollution.
As the country grows richer, economic planners want China to move away from polluting, energy-intensive industries. The China Lead-Acid Battery Association says it expects 75 per cent of lead battery production to be shut down within three years. This would have major ramifications as China is the world’s biggest consumer of refined lead, the majority of which is used to make batteries.
But even if this succeeds, problems would remain as heavy metals linger in soil and rivers. The full scale of the health impacts remains unknown because the government has not instigated nationwide testing and local officials are said to limit health checks to a narrow radius around factories.
Human Rights Watch said many families remain suspicious even though their children have been given a clean bill of health.
“The doctor told us all the children in this village have lead poisoning. Then they told us a few months later that all the children are healthy. They wouldn’t let us see the results from the tests, though,” the group quotes a mother from Yunnan as saying.
Human Rights Watch wants improved testing and better treatment. Some parents have been told that drinking milk or eating garlic and eggs is an effective way to counter lead poisoning, the group said. – (Guardian service)