HANGZHOU, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Yang Xingshu has been suffering from frequent headaches for years, but only after getting a blood test did he realize that they are likely caused by a high level of lead in his blood.
Working in a tinfoil processing workshop in the township of Yangxunqiao in Zhejiang Province, the 42-year-old migrant worker has spent more than ten years toiling here.
"In the last few years, I've felt weak and got sick easily," he explained in a Sichuan dialect.
Preliminary medical tests showed that Yang is suffering from severe lead poisoning with 764 gammas of lead per liter of blood.
According to the national diagnosis standard, a normal level should be below 100 gammas per liter.
Blood lead levels above 700 per liter is serious lead poisoning. Excessive amounts of lead in the body harms the nervous and reproductive systems and can cause high blood pressure and anemia. In severe cases, it can lead to convulsions, coma and even death.
But Yang is not the sole victim. More than 600 people, including 103 children, from 25 family-run tinfoil processing workshops in Yangxunqiao have been sickened in the latest case of mass lead poisoning, according to local health authorities.
Among the children, Ran Boyi is just one and a half years old. He appears thinner and more sluggish than his peers. His blood lead level is as high as 553 gammas per liter.
