Chinanews, Beijing, April 5 - A case of lead poisoning was found on a baby of only one day old in Beijing in 2005, and the interior decoration of the baby's room, even the slippers and tableware, were also found containing too much lead. The baby fell victim to lead poisoning well before it was born.

 

Before April 7, the World Health Day, WHO Collaborating Center for Children's Health and Beijing Pediatric Institute jointly released the result of a research in the last 3 years. The research was conducted in 15 Chinese cities, covering 45,000 children under the age of 6, and 10% of them were found containing too much lead in their bodies.

 

Lead is poisonous to the brain, thus too much lead in the environment will definitely affect children's brain development adversely.

 

Statistics show that 80% of lead poisoning in China has something to do with interior decorations. Children take in 20% to 30% lead in their bodies via their respiratory tracts and 50% through food. Infants can be harmed as their mothers live in such environment.

 

There will be a baby boom in China this year, and if nothing has been done to eliminate the danger of lead dust from decorations, many lovely "gold pig babies" born in this Year of the Pig will be “lead pig babies” instead.