This is what we get when business has too much power.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43414249/ns/world_news-world_environment/
By Michael Martina
updated 6/15/2011 3:15:14 PM ET
BEIJING — Chinese children suffering lead poisoning from polluting smelters and factories have been denied testing, effective treatment and even basic information by officials who downplayed health threats, a human rights advocacy group said on Wednesday.
The report from Human Rights Watch comes after China's latest lead pollution outbreak, when 103 children and scores of adults were poisoned by tinfoil-making workshops in eastern Zhejiang province.
Beijing has vowed to clean up this chronic pollution, but New York-based Human Rights Watch said those efforts only go so far in addressing the needs of hundreds of thousands of children it says are suffering from lead poisoning in China.
Lead, especially harmful for children, can lead to learning difficulties and behavioral problems, and often parents who work at the plants bring home extra doses on their clothes and skin.
"I want to know how sick my son is, but I can't trust the local test results," one mother from Hunan province in southern China told investigators, according to the report.
Citizens who complain about the problem face pressure, the rights watchdog said, citing dozens of interviews with parents in areas afflicted by pollution.
"Parents, journalists, and community activists who dare to speak out about lead are detained, harassed, and ultimately silenced," Joe Amon, health and human rights director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement released with the report.
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