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By Tee L. Guidotti

Mengxi Village, in Zhejiang province, in eastern coastal China, is an obscure rural hamlet not far geographically but far removed socially from the beauty, history, and glory of Hangzhou, the capital. Now it is the unlikely center of a an environmental health awakening in which citizens took direct action by storming the gates of a lead battery recycling plant that has caused lead poisoning among both children and adults in the village.  Sharon Lafranierre reported the story on 15 June 2011 in the New York Times.

What was unusual about the incident was not that the community was heavily polluted and that the health of children in the village has been harmed but that local residents, 200 of them, took violent action, smashing property in the plant, and seem not to have been punished for it. The incident opens a window on the rapid change in attitudes in China toward industrialization, pollution, and authority.

Like many rural settlements, Mengxi responded to the opening of the Chinese economy by creating small-scale business to make money and to raise local residents out of poverty. Compared to earlier local “township enterprises,” this plant came late to Mengxi; it was only opened in 2005. But it caught a wave of increased business demand and now employs a reported 1000 workers, making it an important economic support for rural Deqing County. Historically, these township enterprises have been a peculiar and often corrupt blend of local government and local entrepreneurship. They have been grossly undercapitalized and essentially unregulated: the Mengxi battery plant had apparently been knowingly operating for at least six years in violation of environmental emissions standards. The central Government has been cracking down in recent years and making examples in some egregious cases but local authorities are stronger in rural areas.

Local officials, having a deep and usually personal stake in these enterprises, often try harder to protect them than to protect the local people for whom they are responsible. Mengxi illustrates the problem of local officials refusing to act, denying that the problem exists, and suppressing efforts to find out by journalists or by public health experts. Part of this may be greed but once the damage is done fear probably takes over as the main motivation for concealing the truth. Already, eight company officials have been arrested and all must be very aware of the two senior executive and the dairy boss who were executed in China this year for allowing contamination of milk.

Battery plants on this small scale are particularly hazardous and in the absence of effective regulation can be very dangerous to local residents, especially children, who are more vulnerable than adults to lead poisoning. Lead exposure in this situation may occur from airborne dust containing lead, contact with dirt contaminated from larger particles of lead that drop out of the air from fumes, food grown in contaminated soil, dust brought home on the clothes of adults who work in the plants, and even in homes, where some families actually smelt small quantities of lead as a cottage industry. Lead exerts its major toxic effects on the nervous system. In children, it can cause a spectrum of disorders ranging from severe lead poisoning and brain damage (“toxic encephalopathy”) at levels seen in some children in the village to more subtle toxicity that causes a reduction in potential intelligence (difficult to measure in an individual child but demonstrable in a population) and loss of impulse control, which can be seen at levels that are now common throughout China and used to be common in the United States dec

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Have you ever thought about how things were in the 1500’s compared to now?  Here are a few facts you may not know about.

1. Where did the saying “dirt poor” come from?
2. How did the saying “bring home the bacon” get started?
3. I am sure you have heard “raining cats and dogs”, but where did it originate?
4. Where did the tradition of brides carrying a bouquet of flowers at a wedding come from?
5. “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” sounds peculiar right?  Well how did this saying get started?
6. What do you think their food customs were like?

Now, let’s see if you got the answers correct!

1. “Dirt poor” was when poor people had dirt floors.  Those that had money were able to obtain something to cover the dirt, but those that were poor were stuck with the dirt.
2. The more wealthy people were able to buy pork, and when visitors would come they would hang up the bacon to show off.  The owners of the meat would cut a little piece off to share with their guests who weren’t as financially endowned.
3. In houses that had thatched roofs, they had straw piled up high with no wood underneath, is where they kept their animals.  When it would rain it would become slippery and the animals would sometimes fall.
4.  Back in the 1500’s, people would take a yearly bath.  A wedding would usually take place in July because the bride would take her yearly bath in May, and so by July she would not smell too horrible.  To help cover up the smell, the bride would carry a bouquet of flowers when they got married.
5. When they took their yearly bath in the 1500’s,  they took them in a big tub filled with hot water.  They would not empty the water out until everyone was finished.  The man of the house was first, followed by other males and older sons, then the women and children.  They kept the babies until the end, when the water was at its dirtiest.  It was said to be so dirty that they could lose someone in it, and there was born the saying.
6. The wealthy people were able to buy plates made of pewter.  Food with lots of acid would cause some lead to get into the food, which caused lead poisoning.  Needless to say, for about 400 years, tomatoes were considered poisonous. 

Another interesting fact about food:

Bread was divided by status.  Workers got the burnt bottom of the bread.  Family members got the middle of the bread.  Guests got the top, or the upper crust of the bread.   

Image Source

Have you ever thought about how things were in the 1500’s compared to now?  Here are a few facts you may not know about.

1. Where did the saying “dirt poor” come from?
2. How did the saying “bring home the bacon” get started?
3. I am sure you have heard “raining cats and dogs”, but where did it originate?
4. Where did the tradition of brides carrying a bouquet of flowers at a wedding come from?
5. “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” sounds peculiar right?  Well how did this saying get started?
6. What do you think their food customs were like?

Now, let’s see if you got the answers correct!

1. “Dirt poor” was when poor people had dirt floors.  Those that had money were able to obtain something to cover the dirt, but those that were poor were stuck with the dirt.
2. The more wealthy people were able to buy pork, and when visitors would come they would hang up the bacon to show off.  The owners of the meat would cut a little piece off to share with their guests who weren’t as financially endowned.
3. In houses that had thatched roofs, they had straw piled up high with no wood underneath, is where they kept their animals.  When it would rain it would become slippery and the animals would sometimes fall.
4.  Back in the 1500’s, people would take a yearly bath.  A wedding would usually take place in July because the bride would take her yearly bath in May, and so by July she would not smell too horrible.  To help cover up the smell, the bride would carry a bouquet of flowers when they got married.
5. When they took their yearly bath in the 1500’s,  they took them in a big tub filled with hot water.  They would not empty the water out until everyone was finished.  The man of the house was first, followed by other males and older sons, then the women and children.  They kept the babies until the end, when the water was at its dirtiest.  It was said to be so dirty that they could lose someone in it, and there was born the saying.
6. The wealthy people were able to buy plates made of pewter.  Food with lots of acid would cause some lead to get into the food, which caused lead poisoning.  Needless to say, for about 400 years, tomatoes were considered poisonous. 

Another interesting fact about food:

Bread was divided by status.  Workers got the burnt bottom of the bread.  Family members got the middle of the bread.  Guests got the top, or the upper crust of the bread.