![Children in queue for the government-organized physical check, February [File photo]](U371P886T1D11678F12DT20120331100203.jpg "Children in queue for the government-organized physical check, February [File photo]")
Children in queue for the government-organized physical check, February [File photo]
Shaoguan (CNS) -- Five more children in Renhua, Guangdong were confirmed to be suffering from excessive blood lead on Friday, including one girl who has been classified as mildly poisoned. Asia's largest zinc smelter, the suspected source of the heavy metal pollution, remains closed.
As of late February, health checks have revealed 160 children in this area poisoned to a greater or lesser extent. Officials and experts confirmed the sources were polluted air and food, for which the local heavy metal industry and special soil conditions are responsible.
Lin Xinyi, the girl recently diagnosed as mildly poisoned, showed normal body conditions during a February examination organized by the government, but her father was worried by her loss of appetite soon after, and sent her to a hospital in Guangzhou which made the final diagnosis.
The town government pledges to offer free nutrient-rich diet sets to all children with formal diagnoses of abnormal lead levels. The supplements include milk, tablets containing calcium and zinc essential for the human body, according to a official from the local health authority.
The smelter was shut down on March 4, along with some other polluters in town, but another lead zinc ore factory resumed a pilot operation on Wednesday.
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