Lead poisoning haunts Chinese smelter communities

FENGXIAN, China (Reuters) - 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 lead smelters in Henan province and two in Shaanxi province, with a combined capacity of about 6 percent 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 Changqing, Shaanxi Province, and at a manganese smelter in Hunan this month.
China's pollution and lax product safety standards have long been a source of tension and unrest, particularly when residents of pollution hotspots -- dubbed "cancer villages" because of high disease rates -- feel they are being ignored.

Lead poisoning is endemic among villages near Chinese smelters, interviews conducted this weekend showed.

In Shaanxi's Fengxian, where smoke billows from a Dongling Group zinc smelter, two wan and listless toddlers tested with high levels of lead in their blood earlier this year. Villagers requested but did not get testing for 30 other children.
"These problems are really common actually. It's just that the Dongling case in Changqing got some attention," said a villager surnamed Tu. Older villagers developed circulatory problems and some workers at the plant got too sick to work.
"This environmental pollution is not unique to Fengxian. It's all over."
Lead poisoning due to air and water pollution from poorly regulated smelters and mines haunts the valleys of the ore-rich Qinling range, in a poor and remote part of China.
The problem dogs heavy metals bases in Hunan, Henan, Yunnan and Guangdong provinces. Closing polluting plants has pushed the industry to poorer areas where any investment is welcome.

The shift to poorer regions echoes the migration of the lead smelting industry to China over the last decade, as stricter environmental laws forced smelters in richer countries to close.
China's output of refined lead rose nearly 20 percent in 2008 to 3.26 million tonnes. Output feeds the Chinese battery industry, the world's largest, which then exports worldwide.
CONTAMINATED
The casualties of China's heavy metals industry only get attention when officials respond to cases too large to ignore.
In late 2005, two of China's largest zinc smelters shut temporarily after cadmium contaminated the Pearl River Delta and the Xiang River, sources of drinking water for millions in Hunan and Guangdong Provinces. Cadmium hurts kidney and lung function.
Elevated cadmium levels also showed up in tests of children near the Dongling Group's lead and zinc smelter in Changqing.
Children are most vulnerable to lead poisoning because they are still developing, but smelter workers also fall sick because they absorb it through their skin. Ingestion of large amounts of lead may result in anaemia, muscle weakness and brain damage.
"My dad couldn't stand it any more, so he quit working. It got so he could only work 20 days at a time, then he would have to stop," said a young woman surnamed Zhang.
"Dad's tummy would always hurt. When it's bad, he doesn't want to eat and has no energy."
Zhang's husband now works at a different smelter after her family's employer, Shaanxi Nonferrous Metals Holding, halted work at its 50,000 tonne Wenjiangsi lead smelter earlier this month.
Workers at the Wenjiangsi plant said the plant's internal clinic regularly treats workers who get to the point that they cannot work. They resume work when they feel better.
"It's not a problem if you drink a lot of alcohol," said a young man in a blue work uniform.

Persiapan Menjejakan Kaki ke Universiti Taqwa

Setiap kali Ramadhan menjelma, ramai dari kita yang berazam untuk melakukan ibadah dengan tekun. Sudahkah anda mempersiapkan jadual diri dan keluarga untuk mengharungi bulan ini dengan penuh manfaat ?

Untuk Ramdhan kali ini elok rasanya kita merancang masa sebaik mungkin dengan pengisian program yang bermanfaat. Bulan Ramadhan adalah kurniaan Allah SWT yang tidak ternilai bagi kita. Jadual menghadapi hari – hari dalam bulan ini perlu disediakan.

Perancangan Ramadhan kali ini ;-

Masa untuk bertadarus.
Masa untuk bertarawikh.
Masa untuk bersahur.
masa untuk berbuka.
masa untuk menulis.

Bagi mereka yang berkeluarga besar dan mempunyai anak yang ramai sudah pasti akan ada pelbagai karenah anak – anak yang timbul. Semuanya sebagai cabaran buat kita. Yang penting kita bijak mengurus masa dan mendidik nafsu. Bulan Ramdahan diumpamakan sebagai bulan tarbiyah, pendidikan dan universiti taqwa.

Mempersiapkan diri untuk memasuki universiti taqwa ini perlu ada peancangan yang rapi. Masa sebulan tidak akan kita sedari sekiranya tidak ada perancangan yang baik dari kita. Dalam perspektif alam sekitar lestari, inilah masanya untuk mentarbiyah dan mendidik diri mengamalkan gaya hidup kesederhanaan serta mengurangkan penjanaan sampah.

Green Power

THOMAS L. Friedman wants to save the world. The Pulitzer prize-winning journalist believes that only the United States can and should be the one to lead the world out of the current mess it’s in: climate change (“hot”), the pressures of globalisation (“flat”), and overpopulation (“crowded”), all of which cause their own sets of problems.

It’s an arrogant assumption, especially since the US is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world (China is now No. 1 on this hot list).

The American Government has also been known to hamper the efforts of environmental organisations to reduce gas emissions – like when it refused to ratify the Kyoto Treaty in 2001.
Friedman’s insistence that the US be the nation to lead the charge will cause some readers to roll their eyes, but his argument is persuasive even if it is off-putting. He reasons that since people around the world are trying to emulate the American way of life (a life built on the foundation of oil energy), naturally the United States can inspire these American “carbon copies” to a greener, more sustainable lifestyle.

The act of predicting human behaviour is dicey at best, and Friedman doesn’t offer many convincing reasons why and how the world will follow a more energy-prudent US. After all, Friedman does state that overhauling a country’s energy system could take trillions of dollars. Not all nations have that kind or money.

One wonders why Friedman doesn’t present other options, such as cooperating with countries like Japan, which have been far more successful in building a sustainable lifestyle. Or, why can’t a bloc of countries beside the US lead the way instead?

A possible answer is that Friedman’s environmentalism seems to be wrapped in the red, white and blue of American patriotism, and the book is written from that point of view. This makes it a chore to get through Part II of the book, How We Got Here, where he explains the world’s various conundrums. Not only is it preachy at times, but non-American readers may find it difficult to relate to this section.

But the odd thing with Friedman is, although you may disagree with his point of view, you’ll read on because he does have some good ideas and interesting points to convey. His wealth of stories and anecdotes, from elk-hunting Montana hunters to olive farmers in Cairo, makes a fascinating addendum to the heavy facts he presents – even if, at times, it feels like unnecessary padding.
Thankfully, the rest of the book is a much easier read as Friedman tones down his flag-waving with solutions that most of us can relate to.

Part III: How We Move Forward is inspirational, and has an almost dream-like quality, especially the chapter, The Energy Internet, When IT meets ET, in which Friedman imagines what sustainable-living America could look like. He even dreams up solutions to conserve the flora and fauna and combat terrorism.

But underlying his optimism and exhortations that change must happen “now or else” is his worry that America’s many industry lobbyists and vested interests will prevent his solutions from coming to fruition. Delay, he says, will only make things worse.
Which brings us to Part IV: a surprising chapter on how China is trying to take tough measures against pollution. It’s a refreshing take on what is supposed to be the most polluting nation on Earth, as very little is ever mentioned about China taking any active steps to correct the problem.

For example, in June 2007, China’s State Council actually ordered all Government agencies, associations, companies and private owners in public buildings to set their air-conditioning no lower than 26°C.

Although there are many hiccups in China’s efforts to be more sustainable (Friedman calls China’s effort a “work in progress that bears careful scrutiny”), he seems to admire the effort, and even wonders what will happen if (gasp) America becomes “China for a day”!
Friedman believes that the US is filled to the brim with “all sorts of wacky, wild, and wonderful energy innovators, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists”. With all that in place, what he calls the “Code Green revolution” is just waiting to take off. But the obstacle, to his frustration, is the US Government and various lobby groups which seem oblivious or unwilling to utilise this resource.

How nice it would be, he says, if the Government could be as authoritarian as China for a day – and impose all the necessary regulations for a cleaner, more sustainable energy system – and then return to its cherished democracy the next day?

In the end, Friedman shares the same view as environmentalists the world over. There are solutions to the world’s massive problems. However, applying them is going to be the biggest problem of them all