BEIJING （Reuters） – More than 200 children living beside an industrial park in southwest China have been found to have excessive lead in their blood, state media said on Monday, in the third such case reported in the last month.

    Health authorities tested around 1,000 children in a neighborhood of the city of Kunming, the official China Daily said.

    "Their levels are all higher than 100 micrograms of lead in each liter of blood but lower than 200 micrograms per liter," the newspaper quoted a medical doctor, Wu Ling, as saying.

    Lead poisoning can build up slowly and occurs from repeated exposure to small amounts of lead which can harm a child's mental development. Health problems get more severe as the level of lead in the blood gets higher.

    Parents are blaming the poisoning on a nearby industrial park, the report added, though the local environmental protection bureau denies there is a direct link with industrial pollutants.

    The environmental bureau said the case has been caused by factors such as exhaust emissions.

    "There are thousands of children in Dongchuan district and other areas, so I wonder why only the kids around the industrial park have been found to have excessive lead in their blood," a local mother was cited as saying.

    Earlier this month, more than 800 children living near a metal smelter in northwest Shaanxi province were found to have dangerous amounts of lead in their blood, and more than 150 were sent to hospital.

    The same problem also dogs heavy metals bases in Hunan, Henan, Yunnan and Guangdong provinces.

    At least three lead smelters in Henan province and two in Shaanxi province were ordered to temporarily halt production after protests against pollution at a lead and zinc smelter in Shaanxi.

    北京（路透社）--中国国家媒体星期一称，上月第三次铅中毒报告中说，生活在中国西南部一个工业园旁边的200多名儿童，被发现血液中铅含量过高。

    中国官方报纸《人民日报》说，卫生机构对昆明市一个社区大约1000名儿童进行了检测。

    报纸引用吴玲医师的话说："孩子们血铅水平都高于每升100毫克，但低于每升200毫克。"

    铅伤害儿童的智力发育，铅中毒可逐渐形成，是长期接触少量的铅造成的。随着血铅水平进一步升高，健康问题变得日趋严重。

    报告补充说，父母们将铅中毒归咎于附近一座工业园，但当地环保局否认与工业污染物有直接的联系。

    环保局说，这起事件是由废气排放这样的因素造成的。

    引用当地一名孩子母亲的话："东川区及其它地区有几千名儿童，但我不明白为什么唯独工业园周围的孩子被发现血铅过高。"

    本月初，位于西北部的陕西省一家冶金厂附近的800多名儿童，被发现血液中铅含量达到危险水平。

    同样的问题也出现在湖南、河南、云南和广东省的重金属基地。

    在陕西一家铅锌冶炼厂遭到污染抗议之后，至少有三家 河南熔铅厂，两家陕西熔铅厂被责令暂停生产。