Authorities in northwest China are to relocate a total of 1,396 families after waste discharges from a local smelter caused lead poisoning in 851 children this summer.

These families, who lived within 1,000 meters from the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. in Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province, would move into new homes at least 4 kilometers from the smelter before the end of next year, said deputy county chief He Hongnian Thursday.

He said construction of two new residential areas began in September.

The smelter, which was shut down amid protests in August, agreed to share the estimated 300 million yuan (US$44 million) of relocation costs with the provincial, city and county governments, after a tug-of-war over whether the smelter or the villagers should move.

Towards the end of August, the local government agreed to relocate the villagers and let the 3-year-old smelter stay.

Despite an annual discharge of 1.11 tonnes of lead, the smelter, which produces 100,000 tonnes of lead and zinc and 700,000 tonnes of coke a year, contributed 17 percent of the county's GDP last year.

Most villagers expected relocation would be an end to the issue, though some feared the compensation for giving up their old homes would not be enough to buy a new one.

"We still don't know how much compensation we'll get," said Sun Yagang, a villager in Sunjia Nantou village. "We hope the government will publish the compensation standards soon."

The villagers are also uncertain whether they will lose their farmland after the relocation.

"We used to grow enough grain and vegetables to feed the entire family, and earn some cash by doing odd jobs in town," said villager Chao Mingrun whose family has a tenth of a hectare of farmland close to their home.

"We're not sure if we can still own the farmland. Even if we can, it'll be a problem if we have to travel 4 km to do farm work."

"We'll see what we can do to help the villagers keep their farmland, or create other jobs for them," said He Hongnian, the county official.

To the villagers' relief, at least a third of the children who suffered lead poisoning in summer have recovered, said doctors after health checks in October.

Of the 96 children in Madaokou village who were diagnosed as severe cases in August with more than 250 mg of lead per liter of blood, 49 showed a much lower blood lead levels in October, said village official Ma Jian. "This shows their treatment has been effective."

While a few serious cases were hospitalized for medical intervention, most children received dietary treatment and were provided with food such as milk and nuts to help expel lead.

The food, provided for free by the county government, is still offered once every 20 days to children whose blood lead levels exceed 100 mg per liter, said Wang Mingming, a spokesman with the county government.

Excessive amounts of lead in the body can harm the nervous and reproductive systems and cause high blood pressure and anemia. In severe cases, it can lead to convulsions, coma and even death.

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