Blood tests have confirmed that almost 1,000 children in China's biggest lead smelting center have excessive levels of the metal.

The health bureau of Jiyuan city, Henan province, initiated the tests after a lead poisoning scandal was exposed in neighboring Shaanxi province.

Since Aug 20, the city government provided blood tests for more than 2,700 children younger than 14 who lived near three major smelters, Wei Zongchang, director of the Jiyuan health bureau, said yesterday.

Of those children, 968 had excessive lead in their blood.

"The news is like an earthquake. We are all worried about the health of our kids," said Li Hongwei, a resident of Shibin village.

Some villagers in Shibin demonstrated in front of the smelters late last month, holding banners saying, "Without health, what are we farming for?" and "Give us back blue sky, give us back clean water".

Duan Xizhong, secretary of the Communist Party of China's Jiyuan committee, said the city government had suspended production at 32 of the 35 electrolytic lead plants and on the pollution-prone production lines of the other three major plants.

Environment protection inspectors were stationed in the three big plants: Yuguang Gold and Lead Group, Wanyang Smelter Group and Jinli Smelting.

All children living within 1 km of the smelters have been moved away, with allowances and assistance in education provided by the government.

Some children younger than 6 were living in a local hotel, and the government had opened a kindergarten for them.

"We do bear responsibility for the pollution. Some pollution has accumulated over the past 20 years or more and the plant is too near homes," said Yang Anguo, board chairman of Yuguang Gold and Lead Group, China's largest lead producer.

The excessive lead levels are a result of long-term accumulation of pollution, and Jiyuan had a 52-year history of lead production, said Jiyuan Mayor Zhao Suping.

Zhao said more than 200 government officials had been sent to explain the situation in villages.

The government also organized a trip by representatives of villagers to Fengxiang, Shaanxi province, where 851 children had excessive lead levels in their blood and 174 were considered serious enough to need hospital treatment, in a move to ease the villagers' anxieties.

The mass lead poisoning in Fengxiang was exposed in August, and sparked public outrage after wide media coverage.