600 ill in mass Chinese lead poisoning

More than 600 people, including 103 children, have been made ill in China’s latest case of mass lead poisoning, state media reported today.

China has suffered widespread problems in recent years from heavy metal contamination, with thousands of children affected by lead poisoning in several provinces in 2009 and 2010 because they lived near metal smelters or battery factories.

The victims in the latest case are workers and their children in 25 family-run tinfoil processing workshops in Yangxunqiao town in Zhejiang province in eastern China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.