Hundreds more Chinese children poisoned

More than 1,300 children have been taken ill in China's second mass lead poisoning case in a month.

The youngsters, who lived near a manganese processing plant in Wenping township in Hunan province, were all diagnosed as having excessive lead in their blood.

The children, aged under 14, had lead levels of more than 100 mg per litre of blood, compared with the normal level of 0-100 mg.

The state-run Xinhua news agency said local authorities ordered the smelter shut last week and detained two of its executives on suspicion of "causing severe environment pollution".

In Shaanxi province in northern China, at least 615 out of 731 children in two villages near the Dongling smelter in the town of Changqing have tested positive for lead poisoning, which can damage the nervous and reproductive systems and cause high blood pressure and memory loss.

In the Hunan case, the children are from four villages near the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping, Xinhua said. The children still have to be tested in the provincial capital Changsha to see how serious their cases are.

Huang Wenbin, deputy environment chief in Wugang, said the plant opened in May 2008 without the approval of the local environmental protection bureau.

It said a primary school, a middle school and a kindergarten were within 500 yards of the plant.