Latest news with #principal
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Fear and mistrust in Chinese town where more than 200 children poisoned by lead in their food
Taped doors and quiet rooms tell a story about what happened at Heshi Peixin kindergarten. A huge scandal in a tiny town, a barely believable failing, in a place where children should have been safe. As soon as we arrive in the northwestern Chinese town of Maiji, it is clear that almost everyone knows someone who has been impacted. After multiple children were found to have high levels of lead in their blood, police say staff at the private kindergarten had been adding paint powder to food in an apparent bid to make it look more appealing. A total of 233 of the 251 children had unhealthy levels and 201 needed to be hospitalised, say local authorities. Two food samples were seized and both had lead levels 2000 times the legal safe limit. Eight people have been arrested, including the principal and the kindergarten's financial backer. On one street in this town, a series of shops sell clothes and goods for babies and toddlers. The women who work there all knew the principal and many of the families affected. One even used to work there. They tell us how distressing it's been for the community. One lady whispers with tears in her eyes about how a neighbour's child was found to have lead in her blood at 38 times the normal level. Lead poisoning at this level could cause long term injuries for the brain and the central nervous system. What surprises us is how the kindergarten and its staff are by far the sole focus of their anger. In fact more than one person speaks fondly of the principal, citing her extensive charity work and dedication to children. There might have been huge failings at Heshi Peixin, but here they clearly feel there are failings in the system too. Indeed, most affected families have chosen to leave here to seek treatment in major cities, mainly in Xi'an, the closest major city, which is a four-hour drive away. We are told multiple times that the local hospital returned tests for lead showing much lower levels than at the bigger hospitals. 'This is a cover up' On the street corners, it's all they are discussing, tapping into veins of distrust. "I don't know much, but I think this is a cover up," says one woman who we meet at the side of the road. "I just think local government is too dark, they suppress the news." Another young mother talks about how she lived just around the corner from the kindergarten. "Who will be willing to have children? Who dares to send the children to kindergarten?" she asks. "Now if people send children to primary school, the first thing they ask is are you safe? Is the school safe? Can it guarantee the personal safety of our children in the future, right?" There is no clear evidence of a cover-up, but it's telling that it's what people expect. There is clear anxiety about the fact we are here. The police intercept us and hold us up for over an hour. And perhaps that is no surprise because in China a history of food safety scandals is a sore point. Read more from Sky News:Air India crash preliminary report released'At least 798 killed' at Gaza aid points Cooking oil was last year found to be being transported in containers used for fuel without proper cleaning in between. And most famously, in 2008, milk powder laced with the chemical melamine, left six children dead and hundreds of thousands unwell. Food scandals here are a source of real rage and resentment, dangerous things for a government that people cannot choose. Cases like this are just a glimpse into how deep that frustration can run.
Sky News
11-07-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Fear and mistrust in Chinese town where more than 200 children poisoned by lead in their food
Taped doors and quiet rooms tell a story about what happened at Heshi Peixin kindergarten. A huge scandal in a tiny town, a barely believable failing, in a place where children should have been safe. As soon as we arrive in the northwestern Chinese town of Maiji, it is clear that almost everyone knows someone who has been impacted. After multiple children were found to have high levels of lead in their blood, police say staff at the private kindergarten had been adding paint powder to food in an apparent bid to make it look more appealing. A total of 233 of the 251 children had unhealthy levels and 201 needed to be hospitalised, say local authorities. Two food samples were seized and both had lead levels 2000 times the legal safe limit. Eight people have been arrested, including the principal and the kindergarten's financial backer. On one street in this town, a series of shops sell clothes and goods for babies and toddlers. The women who work there all knew the principal and many of the families affected. One even used to work there. They tell us how distressing it's been for the community. One lady whispers with tears in her eyes about how a neighbour's child was found to have lead in her blood at 38 times the normal level. Lead poisoning at this level could cause long term injuries for the brain and the central nervous system. What surprises us is how the kindergarten and its staff are by far the sole focus of their anger. In fact more than one person speaks fondly of the principal, citing her extensive charity work and dedication to children. There might have been huge failings at Heshi Peixin, but here they clearly feel there are failings in the system too. Indeed, most affected families have chosen to leave here to seek treatment in major cities, mainly in Xi'an, the closest major city, which is a four-hour drive away. We are told multiple times that the local hospital returned tests for lead showing much lower levels than at the bigger hospitals. 'This is a cover up' On the street corners, it's all they are discussing, tapping into veins of distrust. "I don't know much, but I think this is a cover up," says one woman who we meet at the side of the road. "I just think local government is too dark, they suppress the news." Another young mother talks about how she lived just around the corner from the kindergarten. "Who will be willing to have children? Who dares to send the children to kindergarten?" she asks. "Now if people send children to primary school, the first thing they ask is are you safe? Is the school safe? Can it guarantee the personal safety of our children in the future, right?" There is no clear evidence of a cover-up, but it's telling that it's what people expect. There is clear anxiety about the fact we are here. The police intercept us and hold us up for over an hour. And perhaps that is no surprise because in China a history of food safety scandals is a sore point. Cooking oil was last year found to be being transported in containers used for fuel without proper cleaning in between. And most famously, in 2008, milk powder laced with the chemical melamine, left six children dead and hundreds of thousands unwell. Food scandals here are a source of real rage and resentment, dangerous things for a government that people cannot choose.
CNN
11-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
A case of children with high lead levels in China is spotlights a public trust gap
A case in which more than 200 kindergarten students in northwestern China were found to have abnormal blood lead levels is revealing a deep distrust in local government, as members of the public question the findings of an official investigation. Authorities in the city of Tianshui in China's Gansu province earlier this week said eight people, including the principal of the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten, had been detained after an investigation found 233 students had been exposed to lead after school kitchen staff used inedible paint containing the toxic substance as food coloring. The case initially generated new outrage in a country long plagued by food and environmental safety scandals. But in the days since it has also become a lightning rod for public mistrust of official handling of such cases, in a system where there are few independent checks and officials are under pressure to resolve issues quickly. Among the most glaring examples is the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in central China's Wuhan, when local authorities detained supposed 'rumormongers' who had tried to warn of the spread of a virus in the city as officials downplayed the outbreak. On social media, many are questioning the credibility of the government report and aspects of the state media coverage. Some discussion appears to have been censored online in China's tightly controlled media environment, though other articles exploring the situation remain active. One mother in the city, whose child does not attend the school that's been at the center of the official investigation, described to CNN mistrust among local families about the government's findings. 'All the parents think (food is not the actual source of the lead poisoning). But we don't know the exact reasons … how are we supposed to know anything?' the mother, who declined to be identified due to concerns about local government retaliation, told CNN in a phone interview. 'Ordinary folks like us probably have no clue – only the government knows what's really going on,' she said. CNN has repeatedly tried to contact the Tianshui government for comment and has also reached out to China's State Council Information Office by fax. The government in its Tuesday report said the investigation was on-going and that officials from the National Health Commission and other central government departments had helped with the probe. Among key concerns raised in online discussion are what reports suggest are serious discrepancies between the results of blood tests conducted in Tianshui and those that came back from hospitals in Xi'an, a city in a neighboring province, where some parents took their children to be tested. The Tianshui test results were never publicly disclosed. One mother of a student at the kindergarten said a local department in Tianshui told her the blood levels of her child were normal, but a hospital in Xi'an later found her child's blood lead levels were 528 micrograms per liter, according to a report published by China National Radio (CNR). China's official guidelines classify this as 'severe lead poisoning.' Reports from state-affiliated media found that 70 children who were tested in Xi'an had blood lead levels surpassing the threshold of lead poisoning, with six of those cases exceeding 450 micrograms per liter. A full picture of the results from all the students with abnormal levels was not publicly available. In the investigation report, local authorities said they had conducted sampling investigations at the kindergarten and three affiliated schools and tested food samples, water, outdoor soil and other supplies and equipment. Two food samples – of cake and a corn roll – at the kindergarten, were found to have lead levels more than 2,000 times the national food safety standard for contamination. But that didn't quell questions. 'The children only eat three-color jujube steamed cake and corn sausage rolls once or twice a week, how could they be poisoned so seriously?' one mother, who gave her surname Wu, told CNR. Independent blogs online looking into the case have garnered tens of thousands of views. Some discussion appears to have been censored online in China's tightly controlled media environment, though other articles exploring the situation remain active. Some of these accounts raised questions including about why the school, which authorities said used the paint to 'attract more enrollment and increase revenue,' wouldn't have just used simple food coloring, which ecommerce sites show is generally cheaper than industrial pigment. Others raised questions about the credibility of an edited closed-circuit video released by state media alleging to show use of the coloring in the kindergarten's kitchen. Local concerns were also fueled by memory of a 2006 lead poisoning scandal in the same district of Tianshui. Then, over 200 villagers were found to have high levels of lead in their blood during tests conducted outside Tianshui city, according to a state media commentary on the incident published at the time. The source of that lead poisoning case was never officially disclosed. The current case has caught the attention of prominent figures in China's online ecosystem, including Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of state-affiliated media outlet Global Times. 'Questions about environmental pollution are valid, but those raising such concerns need to maintain objectivity in their analysis and should not treat these associative doubts as urgent alarms to spread in society,' Hu wrote on China's X-like social media platform Weibo on Wednesday. But, he also added it was 'key for authorities providing ample information to strengthen public trust.' Professor Stuart Khan, head of the University of Sydney's School of Civil Engineering, told CNN that blood lead level concentrations as high as those cited by state media reports about this case would 'typically require regular exposure for several weeks to months, unless there is a very acute poisoning episode' and that levels can rise progressively with 'continuous environmental exposure.' Potential sources of contamination, such as food, soil or water, could be ruled out by conducting assessments in the broader community and family members of the children to identify who is predominately affected, said Khan, who is not involved in this case. Lead poisoning used to be a more widespread issue in China. In 2010, the central government for the first time allocated special funds for heavy metal pollution prevention in response to at least 12 high-profile cases the previous year that left more than 4,000 people with elevated blood lead levels, according to state media.
CNN
11-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
A case of children with high lead levels in China is spotlights a public trust gap
A case in which more than 200 kindergarten students in northwestern China were found to have abnormal blood lead levels is revealing a deep distrust in local government, as members of the public question the findings of an official investigation. Authorities in the city of Tianshui in China's Gansu province earlier this week said eight people, including the principal of the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten, had been detained after an investigation found 233 students had been exposed to lead after school kitchen staff used inedible paint containing the toxic substance as food coloring. The case initially generated new outrage in a country long plagued by food and environmental safety scandals. But in the days since it has also become a lightning rod for public mistrust of official handling of such cases, in a system where there are few independent checks and officials are under pressure to resolve issues quickly. Among the most glaring examples is the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in central China's Wuhan, when local authorities detained supposed 'rumormongers' who had tried to warn of the spread of a virus in the city as officials downplayed the outbreak. On social media, many are questioning the credibility of the government report and aspects of the state media coverage. Some discussion appears to have been censored online in China's tightly controlled media environment, though other articles exploring the situation remain active. One mother in the city, whose child does not attend the school that's been at the center of the official investigation, described to CNN mistrust among local families about the government's findings. 'All the parents think (food is not the actual source of the lead poisoning). But we don't know the exact reasons … how are we supposed to know anything?' the mother, who declined to be identified due to concerns about local government retaliation, told CNN in a phone interview. 'Ordinary folks like us probably have no clue – only the government knows what's really going on,' she said. CNN has repeatedly tried to contact the Tianshui government for comment and has also reached out to China's State Council Information Office by fax. The government in its Tuesday report said the investigation was on-going and that officials from the National Health Commission and other central government departments had helped with the probe. Among key concerns raised in online discussion are what reports suggest are serious discrepancies between the results of blood tests conducted in Tianshui and those that came back from hospitals in Xi'an, a city in a neighboring province, where some parents took their children to be tested. The Tianshui test results were never publicly disclosed. One mother of a student at the kindergarten said a local department in Tianshui told her the blood levels of her child were normal, but a hospital in Xi'an later found her child's blood lead levels were 528 micrograms per liter, according to a report published by China National Radio (CNR). China's official guidelines classify this as 'severe lead poisoning.' Reports from state-affiliated media found that 70 children who were tested in Xi'an had blood lead levels surpassing the threshold of lead poisoning, with six of those cases exceeding 450 micrograms per liter. A full picture of the results from all the students with abnormal levels was not publicly available. In the investigation report, local authorities said they had conducted sampling investigations at the kindergarten and three affiliated schools and tested food samples, water, outdoor soil and other supplies and equipment. Two food samples – of cake and a corn roll – at the kindergarten, were found to have lead levels more than 2,000 times the national food safety standard for contamination. But that didn't quell questions. 'The children only eat three-color jujube steamed cake and corn sausage rolls once or twice a week, how could they be poisoned so seriously?' one mother, who gave her surname Wu, told CNR. Independent blogs online looking into the case have garnered tens of thousands of views. Some discussion appears to have been censored online in China's tightly controlled media environment, though other articles exploring the situation remain active. Some of these accounts raised questions including about why the school, which authorities said used the paint to 'attract more enrollment and increase revenue,' wouldn't have just used simple food coloring, which ecommerce sites show is generally cheaper than industrial pigment. Others raised questions about the credibility of an edited closed-circuit video released by state media alleging to show use of the coloring in the kindergarten's kitchen. Local concerns were also fueled by memory of a 2006 lead poisoning scandal in the same district of Tianshui. Then, over 200 villagers were found to have high levels of lead in their blood during tests conducted outside Tianshui city, according to a state media commentary on the incident published at the time. The source of that lead poisoning case was never officially disclosed. The current case has caught the attention of prominent figures in China's online ecosystem, including Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of state-affiliated media outlet Global Times. 'Questions about environmental pollution are valid, but those raising such concerns need to maintain objectivity in their analysis and should not treat these associative doubts as urgent alarms to spread in society,' Hu wrote on China's X-like social media platform Weibo on Wednesday. But, he also added it was 'key for authorities providing ample information to strengthen public trust.' Professor Stuart Khan, head of the University of Sydney's School of Civil Engineering, told CNN that blood lead level concentrations as high as those cited by state media reports about this case would 'typically require regular exposure for several weeks to months, unless there is a very acute poisoning episode' and that levels can rise progressively with 'continuous environmental exposure.' Potential sources of contamination, such as food, soil or water, could be ruled out by conducting assessments in the broader community and family members of the children to identify who is predominately affected, said Khan, who is not involved in this case. Lead poisoning used to be a more widespread issue in China. In 2010, the central government for the first time allocated special funds for heavy metal pollution prevention in response to at least 12 high-profile cases the previous year that left more than 4,000 people with elevated blood lead levels, according to state media.
The Independent
10-07-2025
- The Independent
Principal arrested after girls stripped for ‘period check' in India school
Police in India arrested the principal and an attendant of a school for allegedly stripping around 10 girl students to check if they were menstruating after blood stains were found inside a toilet. The incident took place in Thane in western India's Maharashtra state when blood stains were spotted in a washroom by the school's staff members on Tuesday. The Thane Rural Police issued a statement confirming that they have taken action against the school authorities after parents of the aggrieved minors staged a protest. The information to the school principal about the stains in the washroom led to the faculty summoning the girls from grade 5 to grade 10 at the convention hall. The students were then shown photos of the blood stains in the toilet and on the tiles, police said. School teachers then asked the students to disclose their period cycles and confirm who was on their periods. The teachers noted down the details of the girls and teenagers who raised their hands and took them to the washroom where they were stripped and checked by the attendants, police said, according to The Indian Express. The principal and the attendant arrested are both women. The students reportedly went home in tears and informed their parents about the disturbing probe by the school authorities. Several parents on Wednesday went to the school and protested against the act. The parents also demanded strict action against the management and teachers. One of the students complained she was asked by the principal about why she was using a sanitary pad when she was not on her periods. The principal then accused the student of lying and forced her to submit a thumb impression, according to the Thane Rural Police. A parent said that the action by the school teachers 'amounts to mental harassment to the girls'. The police have also arrested four teachers and two trustees for the incident and the arrested will be produced before the court on Thursday. All have been booked under relevant sections of the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The investigation is underway and the police officials said they are collecting more evidence from the students. The school principal denied that she ordered a strip-search or that it took place, according to the BBC.
