Official To Lead-Poisoned Residents Of Jiyuan: "You Are Just A Few Thousand People." - Toronto Star

[hatrack]

EDIT

Provincial and local authorities were quick to respond after learning that 850 children in a town in neighbouring Shanxi province had tested high for lead. They organized tests for children 14 and younger in 10 villages within a kilometre of Jiyuan's big smelters. But when the results turned out to be alarming – 35 per cent of 3,000 children tested high – authorities were just as quick to stop testing.

"At the beginning, no doctor or official even told us what the effects of lead poisoning were," says Zheng Junbing of Diantou village, father to 15-month-old Chenping, whose lead levels are 3 1/2 times more than acceptable limits. "We had to learn about it on our own, from the Internet: `developmental problems; low intelligence levels.'

"And when we complained to the local government, they denied our kids' problems had anything to do with the smelting factories. They said it was car exhaust, it was food, it was toys with lead paint."

Local officials and captains of industry finally admitted it was lead from the local smelters. But not everyone was repentant. Zheng recalls one official saying, "Look, we're a city of 680,000. You are just a few thousand people. This is no big deal."

EDIT

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/775171--the-awful-cost-of-a-rural-lead-smelting-miracle

[MineralMan]

1. Sounds a great deal like the GOP's attitude about health care.

They won't say it openly, but inside, they're saying, "You're just a few million people," to those who have no health care and can't afford any.

They think it's "no big deal."

[Dead_Parrot]

2. Not even a few thousand important people...

...Just a few thousand low-end Chinese. Behold the wave of indifference sweeping the world!

[AlecBGreen]

3. sadly this train of thought is nothing new in China

when you have so many people, its easy to overlook the plight of just "a few"