Tianying Town, Jieshou, China 
Site
Description Human
Exposure & Health Impact Site
Progress
Site Description
Location & Size of Site
According to a news report dated September, 2003, all lead processing firms here were slated to shut down their operations due to indiscriminate practices, low-level technology and illegal operations. Along with Xiaokou town in Taihe County, this region is the largest reprocessed lead production base in China, with output accounting for half of the country's total. Severe lead poisoning cases have been documented in this region. A health study conducted by the Institute for Occupational Health and Poison Control of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention found average lead concentrations in the air and soil exceeding the National Health Standards in Tianying. Local crops were also adversely affected.
In June of 2003, SEPA (State Administration of Environmental Protection) designated this area as one of the eight worst regions with pollution problems in China.
Contaminant Type, Source & Quantity
Air
• Lead;
• Sulphur dioxide;
• Particulate matter: Principal constituents of particulate matter are lead and iron oxides, but oxides of metals such as arsenic, antimony, cadmium, copper, and mercury are also present along with other metallic sulfates. Dust from raw materials handling contains metals mainly in sulfidic form although chlorides, fluorides, and metals in other chemical forms maybe present. Off gases contain fine dust particles and volatile impurities such as arsenic, fluorine and mercury.
Water
• Effluents may contain lead, arsenic and other metals;
• Dissolved and suspended solids;
• Oil and grease.
Solid
• Discard slag may contain lead.
Human Exposure & Health Impact
An investigation by the Ecological Science Research Center on Huaihe River Valley in the 1990s shows that the number of cancer patients has risen drastically in at least 20 villages by the Shaying River alone, involving nearly 50,000 people.
An epidemiological study was carried on children living around the village and township-owned lead industries in Tianying town. Biological monitoring: 959 children aged 5 - 12 years were selected from villages where the lead smelters were located near the residential areas and the battery disassembling was done in some families. The control children (207 pupils) were from other villages without lead exposure. The average lead concentrations in air and soils were 8.5 times and 10 times of the MACs (national health standard) respectively. Eighty-five per cent of the air samples had lead concentrations higher than the national health standard. Local crops and wheat at farmers' homes were also contaminated by lead dust, with lead content being 24 times higher than the standard. The mean blood lead and ZnPP levels of children that lived in the polluted areas were 496 microgram/L and 9.41 microgram/g Hb respectively. The lead exposure caused adverse effects on children's IQ and physical development.
December 2004: Site reviewed by the Technical Advisory Board. Blacksmtih Institute will visit this site.
