Authorities have established that nearly 1,000 youngsters in northwest China's Gansu Province have excessive lead in their blood. This was confirmed following the results of the latest round of mass tests, the provincial health bureau said Monday.

Local health authorities checked 1,789 blood samples over a period of 20 days in Huixian County and found that 620 more children had more than 100 milligrams of lead per liter of blood and 43 adults had over 400 milligrams. The bureau did not release any figures on the number of adults whose levels were between 100 and 400 milligrams. The numbers may rise as a further 200 blood samples have yet to be tested.

The bureau said 334 more children were earlier diagnosed as having over 100 milligrams of lead per liter of blood at the Xi'an-based Xijing Hospital in the neighboring province of Shaanxi. Some villagers told China Central Television (CCTV) recently they hadn't confidence in the testing by local hospitals and traveled 300 kilometers to the Xijing Hospital. A doctor at the hospital was quoted as saying that 877 people from Huixian county were found to have over 100 milligrams of lead per liter of blood.

The patients, from Xinsi and Mouba villages near Shuiyang Town, were victims of a lead smelting plant that continued to operate this summer after being instructed to cease operations earlier this year. Huixian County Non-Ferrous Metal Smelting Co. Ltd. failed to pass an environmental assessment after an upgrade in 2004 and its waste disposal equipment didn't meet national standards.

The plant, which opened in 1996 and produced 5,000 tons of lead per year, was demolished shortly after exposure of the lead poisoning.

Excessive amounts of lead in the body can harm the nervous and reproductive systems, cause high blood pressure and anemia. In severe cases it can lead to convulsions, coma and even death.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2006)