Authorities confirmed that nearly 1,000 children in Gansu province have "excessive" levels of lead in their blood, nearly four times as many children as originally reported after a massive lead-poisoning case uncovered last month, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing state media. Of 954 children found with high lead levels, 62 were being treated for moderate-to-severe lead poisoning. The children all come from Xinsi and Mouba, two villages in northwest China contaminated by a smelter that ignored basic health and safety regulations even after being ordered to stop purifying lead ore earlier this year. About 34% of children in China have blood-lead levels that exceed the World Health Organization limit, according to a recent report by researchers at Peking University Health Science Center in Beijing, compared to fewer than 1% in the US.
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