China plans to move 15,000 residents in its biggest lead smelting area away from the plants in order to allow them to keep operating, after tests showed more than 1,000 children had excessive lead in their blood.
Some smelters and lead production lines in Jiyuan, Henan Province, were shut down for nearly two months after the lead tests, which came amid a spate of cases of high lead in children attending school in the shadow of smelters across China.
Jiyuan Mayor Zhao Suping (趙素萍) said 15,000 people in 10 villages around the plants would move at a total cost of about 1 billion yuan (US$150 million), allowing lead plants, including China’s largest plant owned by Yuguang Gold and Lead, to keep operating, the China Daily reported over the weekend.
“The local government has been trying to stop us getting blood tests and making it public. They just want to protect the plant, which pays a great deal of tax every year,” Huang Zhengmin said.
His five-year-old grandson’s blood tests showed nearly 500 micrograms of lead per liter, about 50 times the acceptable level in the US.
“They don’t care about the life and death of us ordinary people. So the whole village has to be relocated to make way for the plant. The pollution just carries on,” he said.
Lead smelters around the world have shut because of pollution fears, allowing the industry to blossom in China. Lead prices spiked to their highest point this year early last month, when the Jiyuan plant closures were first announced.
After the people move, the smelters will rent their land and plant trees to serve as a barrier protecting nearby villages, the report said. Some people would move to a site about 4km away, it said.
“The question isn’t whether or not you plant trees, it’s whether there are people there or not,” said Lin Jingxing (林景星), who studies cancer villages at the Chinese Academy of Geological Science.
A thorough investigation of soil, water and wind patterns is needed to show how far is far enough, he said.
“Moving people is the simplest solution, especially if you can locate to another place free of pollution. The cost of mitigating pollution is very high,” he said.
He wasn’t aware of any successful cases of moving people away, mostly because of the difficulty of finding new land for them to farm and meeting the cost of building new homes.
The Jiyuan cases came to light in the late summer, when parents of children with high lead and cadmium levels protested at a smelter in Shaanxi Province owned by the Dongling Group, China’s fourth-largest zinc producer, and at a metals smelter in Hunan Province.
A child exposed to heavy concentrations of lead can develop anaemia, muscle weakness and brain damage.
“We read on the Internet that the effects of lead poisoning are irreversible. ‘Irreversible’ is a medical term I don’t quite understand, but I assume it means children affected by lead poisoning will never be as healthy as before,” said Li Lei, father of a 15-month-old boy who tested for high lead levels. “I am worried sick. I am worried about the aftereffects on my child. He is the future of our family.”
Adults, especially workers at lead plants, suffer severe fatigue, loss of appetite and pain. Chinese authorities have not tested people older than 14 years living near the smelters.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
SHOT IN THE ARM: The new system can be integrated with Avenger and Stinger missiles to bolster regional air defense capabilities, a defense ministry report said Domestically developed Land Sword II (陸射劍二) missiles were successfully launched and hit target drones during a live-fire exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung County yesterday. The missiles, developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), were originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday last week, after the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday long weekend, but were postponed to yesterday due to weather conditions. Local residents and military enthusiasts gathered outside the base to watch the missile tests, with the first one launching at 9:10am. The Land Sword II system, which is derived from the Sky Sword II (天劍二) series, was turned