2011-04-19 12:44

HANGZHOU - A manufacturing town in East China's Zhejiang Province has probed 33 pollution cases and arrested 24 people in an environmental policy overhaul following a lead poisoning scandal that sickened more than 100 villagers last month.

As of Tuesday, the environmental protection office in the Luqiao district in the city of Taizhou had fined 18 heavily polluting companies for a total of 2.85 million yuan (US$436,335) and demanded immediate changes ranging from the replacement of their facilities to relocation.

All of the companies are manufacturing firms. The products and services they provide range from batteries and cooling equipment to electroplating for lamps and knives, the local government said Tuesday in a press release.

One of the heaviest polluters, Jianhuang Knife Co., has been closed for relocation, it said.

The massive environmental campaign was prompted by a lead poisoning scandal in March, when untreated industrial emissions from Taizhou Suqi Storage Battery Co. Ltd. in Luqiao district poisoned 168 villagers.

The victims, including 53 children, had excessively high levels of lead in their blood.

The battery plant was closed and its boss was detained immediately after the scandal broke.