Nearly 1,000 children in central China test positive for lead poisoning

September 16th, 2009 Discarded factory chemicals kill 3 in east ChinaSHANGHAI — Three people have died and an additional 17 required medical treatment after they were exposed to bags of a toxic chemical illegally dumped by a factory in eastern China, the local government said Wednesday. Four of the people sickened were children who played near the chemical, 2,4-dinitrophenol — a poison used in scientific research and in manufacturing various chemicals, explosives and pesticides, according to a statement by the government in Dongyang, a city 250 kilometers (160 miles) southwest of Shanghai.

September 2nd, 2009 China detains 15 parents for lead poison unrestBEIJING — Police in central China detained 15 parents for a violent protest over factory pollution that left hundreds of local children with lead poisoning, and accused them of links to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, villagers said Wednesday. Villagers mocked the accusation, saying authorities were using the charge to take revenge against parents involved in the Aug.

August 24th, 2009 Lead poisoning investigation begins in ChinaBEIJING — Health and environmental officials have been sent to central China to investigate who is responsible for pollution from a manganese processing plant that caused more than 1,300 children to become sickened with lead poisoning, a local government official said Monday. The poisoning near the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping township in Hunan province was the second such case involving a large number of children in the last month.

August 22nd, 2009 China says 2 environment officials investigatedWENPING, China — Two environmental officials were being investigated Saturday after more than 1,300 children were sickened with lead poisoning caused by pollution from a manganese processing plant in central China. The probe comes as officials seek to punish those responsible for the poisoning from the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping township in Hunan province.

August 20th, 2009 2nd lead poisoning case hits China, 1,300 sickBEIJING — China has detained two factory officials after 1,300 children were poisoned by pollution from a manganese processing plant, days after emissions from a lead smelter in another province sickened hundreds. Both cases have sparked unrest and come amid growing anger in China over public safety scandals in which children have been the main victims.

August 20th, 2009 China says 1,300 sickened in lead poisoning caseBEIJING — More than 1,300 children have been sickened in a lead poisoning case in China's central Hunan province, the second such case involving a large number of children in the past month, state media said Thursday. The official Xinhua News Agency said 1,354 children who lived near a manganese processing plant in Wenping township were diagnosed as having excessive lead in their blood.

August 20th, 2009 China says 1,300 sick in new lead poisoning caseBEIJING — More than 1,300 children have been sickened by lead poisoning in central China, the second such case involving a large number of children this month, state media said Thursday. The official Xinhua News Agency said 1,354 children — or nearly 70 percent of the children tested — who lived near a manganese processing plant in Wenping township in Hunan province were found to have excessive lead in their blood.

August 19th, 2009 China factory under guard after lead poisoningCHANGQING, China — Dozens of police and plainclothes officers guarded a Chinese smelting plant in central Shaanxi province on Wednesday, days after hundreds of villagers stormed the factory because more than 600 children from two nearby villages had been sickened by lead poisoning. The roads leading to the plant were lined with a heavy security presence.

August 19th, 2009 Lead poisoning stokes tensions in Chinese townCHANGQING, China — Farmer Wang Zhifan jabs a stubby finger toward the sprawling smelter blamed for poisoning hundreds of local children with lead. He bares his yellowed teeth and spits hard.

August 18th, 2009 Chinese mayor apologizes for lead poisoningCHANGQING, China — A mayor apologized to residents of two Chinese villages where more than 600 children were sickened by lead poisoning, saying a nearby smelter targeted by angry protests would not reopen until it meets health standards, state media said Tuesday. Authorities have promised to relocate hundreds of families within two years, the official Xinhua News Agency said, but residents were not reassured.

August 17th, 2009 Clash at China smelter after 100s of kids poisonedBEIJING — Villagers in northern China clashed with police outside a lead smelter blamed in the poisoning of more than 600 children, reports said Monday. Several hundred villagers tore down fences and blocked traffic outside the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co.

August 14th, 2009 Lead poisoning sickens 600 kids in ChinaBEIJING — More than 600 children have been sickened with lead poisoning in a northern Chinese province where authorities shut a smelter earlier this week thought to have caused the contamination, state media reported. More than 80 percent of the 731 children living in the two villages near the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co.

July 31st, 2009 Kids put the heat on police exam cheaters in ChinaBEIJING — Police officers contemplating cheating on promotion exams met their match this week in northwestern China — 18 serious-faced fifth-graders walking the beat. The students were decked in blue and white school uniforms, and photos on the local government Web site showed them standing behind podiums and sauntering up and down aisles of various classrooms to monitor 265 police test-takers in Liangzhou county in Gansu province The experiment, carried out by the Liangzhou Discipline Inspection Commission and Organization Department, was implemented after adult supervisors were found to allow some cheating during police exams to prevent officers' embarrassment, according to the Web site.

May 12th, 2009 89 Afghan girls sick in alleged school poisoningMUHMUD RAQI, Afghanistan — Officials and doctors say 89 Afghan schoolgirls have been hospitalized in the third case of alleged gas poisoning in eastern Afghanistan in less than three weeks. Dr. Aziz Agha says scores of students have been admitted with symptoms such as headaches, vomiting and shivering.

April 24th, 2009 VA reports 4th HIV case since dirty equipment usedCHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The Department of Veterans Affairs says a fourth person exposed to dirty equipment at its hospitals has tested positive for HIV.