Arrests and closures inlead poison crackdown

CHINA has detained 74 people and suspended production at hundreds of battery factories in a widening crackdown on heavy metals pollution after dozens of people were sickened by lead and cadmium poisoning. The government in eastern China's Zhejiang Province said some of the people were detained in connection with pollution that sickened 172 people, including 53 children, near a battery factory in the city of Taizhou. Water and power to 652 factories had been cut, it said. Local authorities are belatedly moving to curb pollution after the central government announced plans for tighter oversight of the industry in response to reports of widespread contamination from heavy metals. The manager of Taizhou Suqi Storage Battery Co was arrested in March and three government officials suspended for neglecting to properly supervise the factory after tests found nearby residents with high levels of lead. Yesterday's statement said an investigation resulted in 74 people being detained in 56 cases handed to police for possible prosecution. Lead poisoning can damage nervous, muscular and reproductive systems and children are particularly at risk. The poisonings in Taizhou were among many in Zhejiang, a major battery production center, and elsewhere in eastern and southern China that have prompted the push for better enforcement of environmental standards. "All remediation will be conducted according to strict discipline. Dismantling of illegal smelters and small, unauthorized electroplating workshops will be conducted strictly according to law," the statement cited Cai Xumin, a local official in charge of the Taizhou cleanup, as saying. In Zhejiang's Deqing County, where 53 people were hospitalized after tests in late April found high lead levels in 332 residents near a factory making motorcycle batteries, all three local factories were ordered shut. The crackdown is aimed at preventing and reducing contamination of the environment with toxins such as lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and other heavy metals. Thousands o! f childr en were affected by lead poisoning in several provinces in 2009 and 2010 because they lived near smelters or battery factories. Usually, people in the industry greet each other with the question: "How's production these days?" said Huang He, sales manager for battery maker Chongqing Wanli Holding (Group) Co. "These days, I'm usually asked instead: 'Is your factory closed?'"