West's green trend spells danger for workers
China's health ministry said in 2006 that a nationwide test for children was unnecessary because their blood lead levels had been falling. But since then, a new source of pollution - factories producing lead-acid batteries for electric bikes, motorcycles and cars - has emerged. The industry has grown by 20 per cent a year for the past five or six years, according to Wang Jingzhong, vice-director of the China Battery Industry Association. China now has some 2,000 factories and 1,000 battery-recycling plants.
At the Haijiu battery factory, which exports to the United States and Europe, regulation of lead emissions was not so much lax as non-existent. The factory's opening in 2005 brought more than 1,000 jobs. Local authorities allowed it to expand to within a rice paddy of the village. They also ignored the breakdown of ventilation equipment.
One worker said he had watched a supervisor cover a device that tests for emissions with his cap, then whisk the inspectors away for tea.