On Tuesday (July 8), Gansu Tianshui officials reported the reasons and progress of the lead poisoning incident at the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in the area. However, instead of dispelling doubts, the report raised more questions. The incident occurred in the Maiji district of Tianshui, which had also experienced a lead poisoning incident in 2006, with 211 people exceeding lead levels and 68 being lead poisoned.
The official report on July 8 stated that among the 251 children at the Peixin Kindergarten in Gansu, 233 children had elevated blood lead levels. The cause was attributed to investors and the legal representative seeking profit, agreeing to the kitchen staff illegally adding non-edible colored paint purchased through online platforms during the production of snacks at the kindergarten.
The official report did not alleviate external skepticism but instead added more questions.
In an article titled “Gansu Lead Poisoning Truth Is Far More Complicated Than You Imagine” on the WeChat public account “Duanduan Jiang”, it was mentioned that local tests differed significantly from those conducted at the Xi’an hospital (e.g., Child A’s local blood lead level was 82 μg/L, while Xi’an’s test showed 512 μg/L), well beyond the allowable error margin as per the “Clinical Testing Techniques for Blood Lead” standard.
The widespread doubt about the inconsistent test results between the two locations was left unexplained by the officials.
According to the Jiemu News, on July 6, 74 children who underwent blood tests at the central hospital in Xi’an showed that 70 children had elevated lead levels, with several children suffering from severe lead poisoning. The highest blood lead level reached 528 micrograms/liter. The four children with normal lead levels did not attend the Peixin Kindergarten.
There is reason to question whether this “man-made addition” incident has followed a familiar pattern of individual attribution and systemic silence in handling such cases. The logic of “quickly assigning blame to individuals, weakening structural responsibility” in public health and environmental pollution incidents is not new.
This pattern often entails blaming individuals, categorizing them as isolated cases, closing the case, and neglecting systemic changes. The author, a former investigative journalist covering environmental and food safety, highlighted this issue in their self-introduction.
It is noteworthy that similarly in the Maqin district of Tianshui in 2006, the “Tianshui Lead Poisoning Incident” occurred, where, surprisingly, the local test results showed no lead exceeded levels or lead poisoning issues among villagers. However, the test results from Xi’an showed 211 people exceeding lead levels and 68 with lead poisoning. All was well in Tianshui, but once in Xi’an, problems arose. This parallel to the current Peixin Kindergarten lead poisoning case is striking.
Research by the blogger “Jiuzhou Menke” using Baidu Maps revealed that the distance from the kindergarten involved to Wujiahe Village is 13 kilometers, taking 23 minutes by car.
Many netizens expressed doubt about the officials’ stated motive for the individuals causing the children’s elevated blood lead levels. “How much money can they save with this? Unbelievable…”. “Media outlets all suggest it was done for profit, but have they investigated the prices of edible colorants and dyes on the market? Is this reason and motive plausible? Why are the test results different between local and Xi’an hospitals?”
Furthermore, the report mentioned that on July 1, the Market Supervision Administration and Public Security Sub-bureau in Maqi District of Tianshui received reports from the public about abnormally high blood lead concentrations in some children at the Peixin Kindergarten. Subsequent joint investigations revealed two unqualified samples at the kindergarten: one from a tricolor red date cake for breakfast and the other from a corn sausage wrap for dinner, with lead levels of 1,052 mg/kg and 1,340 mg/kg, respectively.
Under the Chinese standard GB21027-2020 for general safety requirements of student supplies, the permissible limit of soluble lead in student-used crayons, watercolors, and crayons should not exceed 90 mg/kg. According to GB/T22788-2008 for harmful substance limits in art pigments, the general permissible limit for soluble lead should not exceed 90 mg/kg.
Based on the above standards, how much colored paint would need to be added to achieve the reported lead content of 1,340 mg/kg in the corn sausage wrap as stated by the officials?
The blogger “History Always Rhymes” consulted ChatGPT for an answer to the question, concluding that it is impossible to create a mixture with 1,340 mg/kg lead using colored paint with 90 mg/kg and flour with 0 mg/kg.
The blogger further questioned why only lead exceeding levels were found in the children’s blood if many pigments contain not only lead but also other heavy metals. Why were the other substances not exceeding the limits?
Besides current students suffering from lead poisoning, children who graduated from the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten a year ago also exhibited severely elevated blood lead levels.
According to a report by “Dahe Daily” on July 7, a mother disclosed that her daughter had graduated from the kindergarten a year ago and is now in the first grade of elementary school. On July 7, the hospital check-up in Xi’an showed the child’s blood lead level exceeded 80 micrograms/liter. Among her peers who also graduated from the same kindergarten, some had blood lead levels exceeding 100 micrograms/liter.
Yan Chonghuai, an expert on prevention and treatment of childhood lead poisoning from Xinhua Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, stated in an interview with the media that normal blood lead levels in children should be around 20 micrograms, and without significant lead ingestion, it is difficult to exceed 50 micrograms/liter. Yan suggested that based on clinical presentations, blood lead levels, and previous cases, this situation might indicate chronic lead poisoning (over three months), where most of the lead in the child’s body has likely deposited into the bone system, which can lead to irreversible neurotoxic effects.
“Jiupai News” reported on July 5 that Li Shuguang, a professor from the School of Public Health at Fudan University, mentioned that such elevated lead levels usually require long-term significant intake to reach the degree of poisoning found in the Peixin Kindergarten case.
The blogger “Qingju Can” queried that the kindergarten’s menu operates on a rotation system, where snacks like tricolor red date cakes and corn sausage wraps appear at most once or twice a week, making it unlikely for children to consume them daily.
Many netizens presented another skepticism about the official explanation. The investor in this kindergarten had invested in three kindergartens in total, so why did only this kindergarten show elevated lead levels? Adding to the confusion, some children who recently joined the kindergarten also exhibited severely elevated lead levels. How can these occurrences be explained, assuming several meals would not result in such severe poisoning?
If the true source of contamination is not in the food, what other potential sources of poisoning should be investigated?
Professor Li Shuguang mentioned the need to investigate other sources of pollution, such as whether there are pollutant wastewater or waste residue emissions near the kindergarten, whether the kindergarten’s facilities are outdated, as older lead pipes can cause lead contamination in water, and even whether poisoning could have been intentional.
A local resident of Tianshui revealed that there is a lead-zinc transfer station near the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten.
According to Baidu Maps, 2.5 kilometers away from the troubled kindergarten, there is an enterprise named “Changba Lead-Zinc Mine Tianshui Transfer Station” owned by Baiyin Nonferrous Group Co., Ltd.
Based on the query results from Shunqi.com, the company has a registered capital of 4.16 million yuan and mainly provides products like lead concentrate, zinc concentrate, and lead-zinc mixed concentrates.