China: Parents of Lead Poisoning Victims Speak to Reporters

In China children are very precious…

[Ms. Zhang, Parent of Lead Poisoning Victim]:
“With the one-child policy we all have just one child. People give everything they have to raise their child.”

The Chinese regime limits most Chinese couples to having just one child, and that child often represents hope for a family’s future. But when something threatens to take away that future…

[Ms. Zhang, Parent of Lead Poisoning Victim]:
“The levels of lead in my child’s blood are so high.”

…it touches on feelings that aren’t easy to subdue.

[Ms. Zhang, Parent of Lead Poisoning Victim]:
“His health is more important than anything to me.”

The Dongling lead smelting plant in Shaanxi province has been the scene of protests by parents from local villages, angry after hundreds of children fell ill with lead poisoning.

Ms. Zhang lives in one of those villages. After testing, her son had 192 milligrams of lead per liter of blood—that’s 20 times the amount considered safe in the United States, but in China, it’s not even enough to entitle him to medical treatment.

Other children have even higher levels of lead and aren’t getting treatment.

[Grandmother of Lead Poisoning Victim]:
“I noticed he wasn’t eating properly. All day he wouldn’t sleep, and then he’d fall asleep late and wake up early. We had him checked and his blood had a reading of 234. But they didn’t do anything, all they did was hand out milk.”

According to the Foreign Correspondents Club of China, local officials harassed foreign reporters who tried to cover the story and interview villagers.

Zhang Jingjing, a lawyer with the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, explains the difficulties those affected face.

[Zhang Jingjing, Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims]:
“There are no channels to help common people protect their environmental rights and to get compensation.”

Production at the lead smelting plant has been temporarily suspended. But one of the parents’ most pressing questions—when will the plant be permanently closed—still remains unanswered.

(NTDTV)