8
Chinese kindergarten owner given life sentence over lead paint poisoning scandal (www.scmp.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by [B] to c/china@news.abolish.capital
1 comment fedilink hide all child comments
 

The owner of a Chinese kindergarten has been jailed for life after more than 200 children were poisoned by lead in the country’s worst food safety scandal for almost two decades. A total of six people were jailed on Friday for making or selling harmful foodstuffs by Lanzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Gansu province. Li Huifang, owner of the Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui, was handed a life sentence and fined 500,000 yuan (US$75,000), while Zhu Jinglin, the principal, was jailed for 15 years...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

other discussions
171
Chinese kindergarten owner given life sentence over lead paint poisoning scandal | South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by to c/world@lemmy.world
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

"Five others were also jailed after more than 200 children in Gansu were poisoned by paint used to improve the appearance of canteen food.

Laboratory tests confirmed that the paint – which had been clearly marked as not safe for consumption – contained lead.

Of the 251 children at Peixin Kindergarten, 233 were found to have abnormal blood lead levels while 18 returned tests within the normal range.

Food samples from the kindergarten were found to contain more than 2,000 times the national safe limit for contaminants.

The case, one of the worst food safety scandals involving children for several years, sparked nationwide fury."

Edit - some additional coverage from ABC, illustrating that it was added to "make the food brighter and more appealing to students". https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-17/kindergarten-staff-jailed-over-lead-poisoning-in-china/107278660

Feels like this would be a good time for China's leadership to catch up to the developed world and ban making lead paint. It's unneccessary and leaves environmental contamination anywhere it's used: a legacy of shit for future generations to clean up (and pay for). And of course - the human lives that are given lasting damage when exposed. All to save a bit of money because lead white paint lasts longer? Shameful.