Battery plant poisons hundreds of children in China

[phantom power]

Beijing (CNN) -- More than 200 children have elevated levels of lead in their blood caused by a battery plant near their communities in eastern China, state media said.

At least 23 -- some as young as nine months -- were suffering from "moderate to severe" lead poisoning and have been hospitalized, said the Xinhua news agency, citing a hospital official. Five more were waiting to be hospitalized.

The children from a township in Huaining County were tested from late December, according to the official at a children's hospital in Anhui Province.

Most live near two battery plants where lead processing occurred, Xinhua said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/01/06/china.lead.poisoning/index.html

[madrchsod]

1. that`s just the cost of business.

a few sick children for getting that contract for the batteries in kids toys.

[enid602]

2. factories

The real reason for the Chinese factories that dump cheap products on the market is that the 139 million workers who migrate to the cities to work in them send most of their wages home, where over 1 BILLION impoverished peasants depend on these funds to eat. Without these factories, over one BILLION people in rural China will starve, as their population has far outstripped the land's agricultural capacity. If one BILLION Chinese face starvation, their government will collapse.

[joshcryer]

3. Yup. Profit > environment.