News on Poisoning

China factory closed amid lead poisoning fears

2010-03-15T10:18:22Z

<div><p>Authorities in southwestern China have closed a factory after nearly 100 people -- most of them children -- tested positive for lead poisoning, state media said Monday.</p><p>A total of 94 people in Sichuan province, including 88 children, were found to have excessive levels of lead in their blood and officials suspect a nearby factory may be at fault, the pro...

94 people in SW China found to have lead poisoning

2010-03-15T04:00:15Z

<div><p>At least 94 people living near a lead factory, most of them children, have tested positive for lead poisoning, state media said Monday, prompting authorities to order the closure of the plant. Hundreds more people are still waiting for test results.</p><p>Reports of lead poisoning have emerged around the country since last year, highlighting the heavy environmental cost of China's rapid economic development.</p><p...

Blum traces birth of forensic medicine in NY

2010-02-21T21:16:00Z

<div><p>"The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York" (Penguin, 336 pages, $25.95), by Deborah Blum: How do I poison thee? Let me count the ways: arsenic, mercury, strychnine, chloroform, wood alcohol and carbon monoxide. These were just a few of the options available to would-be murderers whose crimes less than a century ago were likely to go unpunished because of bumbling coroners an...

Iraq Chemical Attack Sentence

2010-01-17T08:00:27Z

A man weeps while visiting the grave of a relative killed in a 1988 chemical attack in Halabja in northern Iraq, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010. Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin "Chemical Ali" was convicted Sunday of crimes against humanity and received his fourth death sentence, this time ...

Binge drinking kills 3rd China official this year

2010-02-24T08:03:50Z

<div id="subtitle">Communist Party official dies of excessive drinking in eastern China, the third case in a year</div><div><p>A Communist Party official in China has died from excessive drinking, the third such alcohol poisoning case that highlights the problems of a drinking culture connected with government and business work, an official newspaper reported Monday.</p><p&g...

China to relocate 15,000 from lead-poisoned area

2010-02-24T18:05:13Z

<div><p>Authorities in central China plan to move 15,000 residents away from smelting plants in the area after nearly 1,000 children tested positive for lead poisoning, state media said on Friday.</p><p>Zhao Suping, mayor of Jiyuan city in Henan province, said the mass relocation would cost one billion yuan (146 million dollars), the offici...

Nearly 1,000 children poisoned with lead in China

2010-02-24T19:34:37Z

<div><p>Nearly 1,000 children in central China have tested positive for lead poisoning in the latest environmental scandal to erupt in the nation's smelting industry, state press said Tuesday.</p><p>The news comes close on the heels of a spate of lead poisoning incidents around China, and after residents in Jiyuan city, Henan province, prot...

Lead poisoning sickens nearly 1,000 kids in China

2010-02-24T19:38:42Z

<div id="subtitle">Nearly 1,000 children in central China test positive for lead poisoning in latest case</div><div><p>Nearly 1,000 children in a central Chinese province have tested positive for excessive lead in their blood, state media reported Tuesday, the latest of several lead poisoning cases involving thousands of children across the country.</p><p>After reports of...

UKRAINE YUSHCHENKO POISONING

2009-09-28T08:16:50Z

FILE - These combination file photographs show Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, before and after his mysterious poisoning. On the left, Yushchenko is seen after he submitted his candidacy papers in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on July 4, 2004. On the right, Yushchenko, with his face disfigured by illness, is seen answering media question in Kiev Friday, Dec. 10, 2004. Yushchenko is ag...

Ukraine PM to Russia: Hand over poisoning figures

2010-02-25T01:39:10Z

<div id="subtitle">Ukraine's Yushchenko asks Russia to hand over key figures in his dioxin poisoning</div><div><p>Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has urged Russia to turn over important figures in his nearly lethal dioxin poisoning five years ago.</p><p>...

Beijing vows to crack down as lead poisons 121 children

2010-02-25T01:55:59Z

<div><p>China vowed Sunday to crack down on heavy metal polluters after officials confirmed a new major lead poisoning outbreak had left 121 children with excessive levels of the metal in their blood.</p><p>Zhang Lijun, vice minister for environmental protection, told a news conference in Beijing that the government would identify and shut down polluters...

Lead poisons 121 children in eastern China

2010-02-25T02:08:09Z

<div id="subtitle">Lead poisoning sickens 121 children living near battery plant in eastern China</div><div><p>Medical tests have shown at least 121 children living near a battery plant in eastern China are suffering from lead poisoning, the latest in a recent string of such cases that have affected hundreds.</p><p>Two medical agencies tested 287 children younger than 14 ...

Three dead in reclamation depot poisoning in east China

2009-09-23T22:25:59Z

Sep 14, 2009 - Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China - Three people had died and 14 others were hospitalized after being poisoned by unidentified plastic waste in east China's Zhejiang Province. Seventeen workers in a reclamation depot fell sick on Sunday as they were loading a batch of plastic waste in Dongyang City, said an unnamed official with the Do...

Report Finds Toxins Common in Products for Children, Pets

2010-02-25T06:09:24Z

<div id="subtitle">Car seats, backpacks, pet toys contaminated with lead, PVC, arsenic, other toxins</div><div><p>Hundreds of common household products -- including children’s backpacks, car seats, and even pet products -- are tainted with lead, arsenic, and other toxins, according to test results released by a national environmental group.</p><p>Tests conducted by HealthyStuff.org -- part of the Zhejiang, China - Water sprayed from a ship to stop the spread of poisonous gas from a chemical ship during a maritime rescue exercise in the East China Sea....

China detains 15 parents for lead poison unrest

2010-02-25T13:56:58Z

<div id="subtitle">China detains 15 parents for unrest over lead poisoning, claims links to banned sect</div><div><p>Police in central China detained 15 parents for a violent protest over factory pollution that left hundreds of local children with lead poisoning, and accused them of links to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, villagers said Wednesday.</p><p>Village...

China widens lead industry checks after poisonings

2010-02-25T13:24:48Z

<div><p>HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Yunnan province is investigating possible lead poisoning in its capital city of Kunming, while smelter officials in its top lead producing city, Gejiu, are worried the provinci...

Graphite Mine Poisoning Kills 15 in China

2009-08-31T16:25:51Z

Aug 29, 2009 - Chenzhou, Hunan, China - Fifteen workers died after they inhaled poisonous gas in a graphite mine in central Chinas Hunan Province, local authorities said. The accident occurred at around 4 p.m. Friday at Jicai Graphite Mine in Yuanlutang township, Beihu District, Chenzhou City. The rescue en...

New lead poisoning scare in China: state media

2010-02-25T13:57:09Z

<div><p>Parents in southwestern China are accusing a local industrial park of causing lead poisoning in their children, state media said Monday, in the latest in a slew of similar incidents to spark public ire.</p><p>A hospital in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, has found that 200 out of ...

China lead poisoning victims' face tough tests

2010-02-25T16:41:34Z

<div><p>Two weeks ago, Xiao Fengying travelled seven hours by car with her two sick children aged six and 13 from their home in China's rural Hunan province to Changsha city for medical treatment.</p><p>Both were suffering from suspecte...