Investigation of lead poisoning in Chinese daycare centers shows distrust of authorities

Investigation of lead poisoning in Chinese daycare centers shows distrust of authorities

In a current investigation, it was found that over 200 kindergarten children in Northwest China have increased lead value. This has led to considerable distrust of the local authorities, since many citizens question the results of the official investigation.

Investigations in TianShui

The authorities in the city of Tianhui in the province of Gansu announced at the beginning of the week that eight people, including the head of the Heshi Peixin kindergarten, were arrested. During the examination it turned out that 233 students were exposed to lead after the kitchen staff used color that contained the toxic material as a food color.

public skepticism and distrust

The case triggered outraged reactions in a country that is repeatedly affected by scandals in terms of food and environmental safety. In the days after the examination of the investigation, however, there was also a growing skepticism compared to the official handling of such cases. In a system in which there are hardly any independent controls and the authorities are under pressure, the concerns are justified.

At the beginning of 2020, for example, during the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic in Wuhan, local authorities were criticized because they arrest alleged "rumors" citizens who tried to warn of virus spread.

discussion in social media

In social media, many question the credibility of government reports and the reporting of the state media. Some discussions seem to have been censored in China's strictly controlled media landscape, while other articles on the Situation are still active.

A mother from TianShui, whose child does not visit the affected kindergarten, CNN described the widespread distrust of the families. "All parents agree that the food is not the actual source of lead poisoning. But we don't know how it really came about," said the mother, who did not want to be named for fear of repression.

discrepancies for blood values

A mother reported that her child in TianShui was classified as normal, while a value of 528 micrograms per liter was found in Xi’an-this is considered severe lead poisoning according to official guidelines.

school and environmental concerns

In the investigation, it was found that two food samples from the kindergarten had lead values that were more than 2000 times above the national security standard. Nevertheless, many questions remained unanswered: "The children eat the three-colored date box cakes and the corn sausage rolls only once or twice a week. So how can they have been poisoned so hard?" asked a worried mother.

public reactions and expert discussions

The reactions from the public and experts are interested. Professor Stuart Khan from the University of Sydney noted that such high lead value concentrations would require regular exposure over several weeks or months, unless there is an acute poisoning. Possible sources of contamination could be identified by investigations in the further community and in the families of the affected children.

The authority has tried to provide information to strengthen public trust. In a social media contribution, Hu Xijin, a prominent commentator, called on to maintain objectivity and not to spread the doubts as urgent alarm signals in society.

Another example of widespread concerns is a lead poisoning scandal from 2006 in the same region, in which over 200 villagers had high bleeding. The source of this case was never officially announced. This also stirs up the fears and distrust of the population in the current situation.