The Huangqi Chemical Plant in Fushun, northeast China's Liaoning Province, has been blamed for vomiting, bloody noses and severe headaches suffered by children at the Huangqi Elementary School, where classes were suspended at the end of June.

The chemical plant, which makes triethanolamine, a strongly alkaline organic solvent, stopped production on June 30 after rounds of loud protests from the parents.

“It is to be moved to the city’s designated area for chemical factories in the suburbs,” said Liu Yan, director of the development division of Fushun Environmental Protection Bureau.

The heavy chemical pollution of the plant has aroused great attention from the city's environmental protection bureau.

The environmental protection bureau has established a special team to examine and supervise the removal of the plant. It gives no time schedule, though. However, locals "can't yet sue the chemical plant because there is not enough evidence to prove the students' illnesses were related to it," said Liu.

The local government of Shuncheng District has asked the students to get diagnoses and necessary evidence from hospitals, but no one seems to have done so, despite almost all affected students showing abnormalities in their blood platelets and cells.

Earlier, a parent of one of the school's students who refused to give his name said the plant restarted operations after June despite evidence that emissions from the plant were making many students sick.

Almost all 300 students went back to school after the October holiday, a teacher from the school said.

He said students could not go back to class as normal until the plant was finally forced to move away from the area.

Zhao Qibin, an official of the city who has a relative studying in the school, said there still might be a few students staying at home.

Liu noted the plant which began production in 1998 has not had a pollution inspection, required by law, since then.

One villager said the especially high temperatures during the summer had made the pollution worse.

Fushun, a heavy industrial base in China, is home to the country's petroleum, coal, metallurgical, chemical and electronics industries.

The city has made efforts in recent years to prevent heavy industrial pollution. It has set up special zones for factories and most chemical plants have been equipped with anti-pollution facilities.

(China Daily 12/5/2000)