Chinese Factory Blamed For Lead Poisoning

Last month, officials said they had closed a battery factory in the southern province of Guangdong after 40 children were found with lead poisoning. In November, authorities said they would relocate 1,400 families in the northern Shaanxi province who live near a smelter that caused lead poisoning in about 850 children, after protests erupted in August. Similar reports of lead poisoning have emerged in Yunnan, Fujian and other provinces in recent months. In the latest case, the battery factory opened in 2007 but was asked by the local environmental monitoring department on Nov. 22 to suspend operations because of high lead levels in its emissions, Xinhua reported. Sun told Xinhua the municipal government cut the company's power supply two days later and told it to move elsewhere.