In most areas, environmental protection bureaus are unlikely to block an industrial project once it has been approved because they rely on local governments for funding.

Li Zhengrong claimed the Jinglian smelter was registered with the Ministry of Commerce but the factory was later found to be illegal and should have been shut down.

Two employees at the Wugang environmental protection bureau are under investigation and its director Huang Wenbin has been under increasing pressure following the scandal. His department was accused of failing to deal with the plant's high levels of pollution but Huang denied he or his staff had covered for the smelting firm.

"We just don't have the funds or the technology to do the job properly," he told Beijing News. "We don't even have the right testing equipment. Most of our kit was bought in the 1980s and are older than some of the staff."

The number of qualified staff is also a problem, he said, adding that his office has "failed to recruit any college graduates who majored in environmental sciences" since 2001 and that around 80 percent of his employees do not have proper training.

The Implementation Plan on Controlling Heavy Metal Pollution was passed in principle by the MEP on Aug 28 and demands joint measures by all the relevant departments to avoid further pollution.

China has an annual lead production capacity of 4.2 million tons and aims to make 3.2 million tons this year, which represents 37 percent of the global total.

Jin Wei, an analyst with the Chinese Lead Association in Shanghai, said all small smelters that do not meet current or future emissions standards will be shut down.

"The lead smelting industry will have to be restructured. It is the only way to keep residents healthy," he added.

Excessive levels of lead in the body can harm the nervous and reproductive systems, cause high blood pressure and anemia, and, in extreme cases, can lead to convulsions resulting in a coma or even death.

Although it may not be obvious in the short term, the illness can severely affect a child's mental and physical development.

Yet when interviewed by China Daily, a local official in the Wugang publicity department surnamed Xia said the recent spate of lead poisonings is "no big deal" as the children had shown no real symptoms, and he did not understand why the media was so interested in the story.

"His comments reflect the shortage of basic pathological knowledge among officials and, more importantly, his blas attitude towards the incident," said Xia Xueluan, a sociology professor at Peking University. "His response to the accident is insulting to human life.

"When pollution accidents happen, the first thing local officials think about is how to avoid the blame, rather than how to find a solution. The officials are indifferent to people's lives."

(China Daily September 9, 2009)