1,300 Chinese Kids Get Lead Poisoning

(AP)  A Chinese state news agency says more than 1,300 children have been sickened by lead poisoning in Hunan province, the second such case involving a large of children in the last month.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday that the children lived near a manganese processing plant in Wenping township in Hunan. It said 1,354 children were diagnosed as having excessive lead in their blood.

It said local authorities had shut down the smelter and detained two of its executives.

In Shaanxi province in northern China, at least 615 out of 731 children in two villages near the Dongling smelter in the town of Changqing have tested positive for lead poisoning, which can damage the nervous and reproductive systems and cause high blood pressure and memory loss.

[daisyjingles]

It used to be like that in the United States and still is in some parts. Until certain laws were passed, children forced to work in sweatshops, some until they died.

Children should be permitted to be children and spend their time getting educated and learning to get along in ths world, sometimes changing the world.

The people of China also needs clean air, clean water, clean places for workers. This will only come to pass if the government steps and to take steps to rub out the mistreatment. That is an important role of government.