FENGXIAN – Chinese provinces have begun shutting lead smelters for environmental checks, after hundreds of children tested for high levels of lead in two separate cases this month.
At least three smelters in Henan province and two in Shaanxi province, with a combined capacity of about 6 per cent of China’s annual production, were ordered to temporarily halt operations in recent days, officials said.
The closures came after parents protested at a lead and zinc smelter operated by Dongling group in Shaanxi and at a manganese smelter in Hunan this month. – (Reuters)