China lead poisoning: probe finds disease control agency, hospital faked results

Ten officials in China’s northwestern Gansu province are under investigation for oversight failures, after the provincial disease control agency and a hospital were discovered to have falsified test results during a major kindergarten lead poisoning scandal.

This comes nearly two weeks after police in Gansu’s Tianshui city detained eight people over their involvement in the poisoning that left more than 200 kindergarteners with high lead levels in their blood, in a case that shocked the nation.

According to an investigation report released by the provincial government on Sunday, the Gansu Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Tianshui Second People’s Hospital manipulated testing procedures and results for children from Heshi Peixin Kindergarten.

The officials placed under “accountability discipline investigation” include the Communist Party chief for the Gansu health commission, Zhang Hao, and director Liu Borong, provincial disease control bureau director Gan Xiaozhou, Tianshui municipal party committee secretary Feng Wenge and Tianshui mayor Liu Lijiang, the report said.

It also said senior provincial officials were “deeply saddened” by the poisoning that had shocked the country, and conveyed their sincere apologies to the affected children and their parents

The local government will treat the children free of charge and reimburse any medical costs incurred outside the city, the report added.