LEAD POISONING IN CHINA-AN INDIFFERENT GOVERNMENT AND A HAPLESS POPULATION!

Is there any country in this world which does not bother about the well being of its ordinary citizens? The answer is loud and clear, it is the newly anointed economic power China! It is a common knowledge that Communist China does not believe in individual liberty and rights and considers the State as supreme! Otherwise it is very difficult to believe the recent report about lead poisoning in some parts of that country with the government not doing much to alleviate the situation. How can a country that aspires to replace the US as the Super Power can be so indifferent to the sufferings of its citizens? In its relentless pursuit of economic superiority, China is trampling over the rights of its population to be normal and healthy like any one else in the world but the regime there is totally insensitive to global outcry regarding the latest episode of lead poisoning.

"Chasing the political dividends of economic development, local officials regularly overlook environmental contamination, worker safety and dangers to public health until forced to confront them by episodes like the Haijiu factory riot. In the past two and a half years, thousands of workers, villagers and children in at least 9 of mainland China's 31 province-level regions have been found to be suffering from toxic levels of lead exposure, mostly caused by pollution from battery factories and metal smelters. The cases underscore a pattern of government neglect seen in industry after industry as China strives for headlong growth with only embryonic safeguards. "What we are trying to underscore is how little has been done to address the massive impact of lead pollution in China," Joe Amon, the organization's health and human rights director, said in an interview. "It really has affected a whole generation of kids." In more developed nations, where lead pollution has been tightly regulated for decades, a pattern of lead poisoning like China's would most likely be deemed a public-health emergency. High levels can damage the brain, kidney, liver, nerves and stomach and, in extreme cases, cause death. Children are particularly susceptible because they absorb lead more easily than adults. A report by Human Rights Watch released Wednesday states that some local officials have reacted to mass poisonings by arbitrarily limiting lead testing, withholding and possibly manipulating test results, denying proper treatment to children and adults and trying to silence parents and activists. "No blood lead level has been found to be safe for a child," Dr. Mary Jean Brown, chief of the lead poisoning prevention branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview last week.Here, Chinese leaders have acknowledged that lead contamination is a grave issue and have raised the priority of reducing heavy-metal pollution in the government's latest five-year plan, presented in March. But despite efforts to step up enforcement, including suspending production last month at a number of battery factories, the government's response remains faltering".

If pleas from the world community is continuously ignored, some thing needs to be done to bring them to their senses. Of course past experience is any indication, China cares two hoots for world opinion as it is powerful enough to withstand any punishment that may be meted out to them by the the global community for their criminal negligence. All they are interested is to show piece the achievement of communism to the world and the whole world knows how they "organized" the Beijing Olympics in 2009 and what methods they employ to produce "champions". The million dollar question is what purpose it serves such "accolades" are achieved if they are at the expense of the common man who continue to lead a life of low quality!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
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