Latest news with #SimoneMcCarthy
RNZ News
10-07-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
More than 200 children found with high lead levels after kindergarten in China uses paint as food colouring, authorities say
File photo. Photo: Photo / 123RF By Simone McCarthy and Joyce Jiang , CNN More than 200 kindergarten students in northwestern China were found to have abnormal blood lead levels after kitchen staff used paint as food colouring, authorities said, in a case that's stoked outrage in a country long plagued by food safety scandals. Eight people, including the principal of the private kindergarten that the children attended, have been detained "on suspicion of producing toxic and harmful food," according to a report released Tuesday by Tianshui city government, as cited by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. The principal and a financial backer of the school had allowed kitchen staff at the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten to use paint pigments to colour the children's food, leading to contamination, according to the report, which followed a days-long but ongoing probe into the cases. Of the 251 students enrolled at the kindergarten, 233 were found to have abnormal levels of lead in their blood, the report found. The children were undergoing medical treatment with 201 of them currently in hospital, authorities said. Medical evaluation on the effects of their exposure, which can cause long-term and developmental harm, were not yet made public. Local media cited a paediatrics professor as saying aspects of the case suggest there could be chronic lead poisoning, meaning exposure over a period of more than three months. During the investigation, two food samples from the kindergarten - a red date steamed breakfast cake and a sausage corn roll - were found to have lead levels more than 2,000 times the national food safety standard for contamination, according to figures cited in the investigation report. The paint was also seized by authorities and found to contain lead - and the packaging was clearly labelled as non-edible, the report said. Tianshui's top law enforcement official told CCTV that the principal and his investor had aimed to "attract more enrolment and increase revenue" with the colourful food. CNN has reached out to Heshi Peixin Kindergarten several times for comment. Authorities said they launched the probe on 1 July after becoming aware of reports that children at the school had abnormal blood lead levels. Lead exposure in children can lead to severe consequences, including impacting children's brain development, behaviour and IQ. The government report did not disclose how long the exposure had gone on, with some affected parents interviewed by state media saying they had noticed abnormal signs in their children's health and behaviour for months - and clamoring for more answers about how the exposure happened. "My mind went blank," a mother of one affected student told state media after learning from a hospital in another city that her child had a blood lead level of 528 micrograms per litre - a revelation that came after she said a local department in Tianshui told her the blood levels were normal, according to a report published by outlet China National Radio (CNR). China's National Health Agency classifies "severe lead poisoning" as anything above 450 micrograms per litre. The case has raised all-too-familiar concerns in China about food safety as well as the levels of transparency with which such cases are handled - especially in a system where independent journalism is tightly controlled and officials are under pressure to resolve issues quickly. Earlier this month, after the school conducted tests on the students but did not issue individual results, many parents took their children to Xi'an - a major city a roughly four-hour drive from Tianshui - for testing, according to a report published by a news outlet affiliated with the official People's Daily. "Right now, I'm not thinking about compensation - I just want my child to be healthy," she was quoted as saying. 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. According to China's official guidelines, this level is classified as "severe". A full picture of the results from all the students with abnormal levels was not publicly available. One mother told the People's Daily-affiliated outlet that she had been confused by her daughter's constant stomach aches, loss of appetite and behavioural changes over the past six months, which didn't improve after treating her with traditional Chinese medicine. Others expressed skepticism about the results of the official investigation. "The children only eat three-colour 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. "If something like this happened to the children in school, at least give us an explanation. Now there is nothing." Earlier this week, Tianshui's mayor Liu Lijiang said the city would "do everything possible to ensure the children's treatment, rehabilitation and follow-up protection," while vowing to close "loopholes" in Tianshui's public food safety supervision. The case has led to widespread expressions of outrage across Chinese social media, the latest among dozens of high-profile scandals have been reported by local media since the early 2000s. "Serious accountability must be maintained and food safety issues cannot be ignored or slacked off. When it involves the life safety of young children, severe punishment must be imposed," wrote one commentator on the X-like platform Weibo. "Children are the hope of a family. I hope they can recover soon and grow up healthily," said another. Past scandals have also impacted children. In one of the most egregious examples, six infants died and some 300,000 others were sickened by milk powder formula containing the toxic industrial chemical melamine. Several executives found to be responsible for the 2008 case were ultimately handed death sentences, and the tragedy drove deep mistrust of domestic products and food safety in China. 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. Officials have also moved to tighten food safety regulations in recent years, but pervasive cases have shown more needs to be done in terms of enforcement and to build back public trust, experts say. Improving the food regulatory system calls for "more transparency, more thorough investigation of food safety cases," said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and author of the book Toxic Politics: China's Environmental Health Crisis and its Challenge to the Chinese State. Huang also said a lack of public confidence in the safety systems could evolve into a "trust crisis". - CNN
CNN
03-05-2025
- Automotive
- CNN
China-made EV sports car rivals Porsche
China-made EV sports car rivals Porsche Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD unveiled its premium Denza Z sports car, rivaling Western brands like Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. Its launch came at the opening of Auto Shanghai, China's largest automobile show. CNN's Simone McCarthy reports. 00:59 - Source: CNN Automated CNN Shorts 11 videos China-made EV sports car rivals Porsche Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD unveiled its premium Denza Z sports car, rivaling Western brands like Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. Its launch came at the opening of Auto Shanghai, China's largest automobile show. CNN's Simone McCarthy reports. 00:59 - Source: CNN Trump says economy will be 'okay' with short-term recession In an interview with NBC News, President Donald Trump's said that the economy would be 'okay' in the long-term if there were to be a short-term recession. 01:06 - Source: CNN Migrant spends more than eight hours in a tree to avoid ICE arrest A Guatemalan migrant spent eight hours in a tree in Texas to avoid being arrested by ICE. He is currently in a detention center in Karnes City, Texas. 01:14 - Source: CNN Would you date someone with a different political point of view? Can you separate the political context from your romantic life? CNN's Audie Cornish speaks with her show crew and with Orna Guralnik, a psychoanalyst and star of Showtime's Couples Therapy. 01:17 - Source: CNN Bored at the airport? For these travelers, it's showtime! Dancer and choreographer Blake McGrath felt the urge to whip out a dance combo while waiting for his flight at Dallas-Fort Worth International. The flight left without him, but when he uploaded the video to TikTok, it quickly went viral and eventually grabbed over 6.7 million views. 01:41 - Source: CNN Vanessa Yurkevich explains Trump's big move that could raise prices President Trump ended the de minimis exemption, a major shipping loophole that allowed shipments of goods worth $800 or less to come into the United States duty-free, often more or less skipping time-consuming inspections and paperwork. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich explains what this move will mean for US consumers and prices. 01:01 - Source: CNN How rich is the Ivy League? The Trump Administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal funding to Ivy League schools. These same institutions have endowments bigger than the GDPs of some small countries. So why do these universities need money from the federal government and what's at stake if they lose it? 02:49 - Source: CNN Bookstore's treasures include $45,000 rare novel CNN's Erin Burnett takes her kids to visit the iconic Strand bookstore in New York, where even the books have film and TV credits. The store is so massive, its 3rd generation owner Nancy Wyden still discovers hidden treasures there. Join your favorite celebrities as they take you to their favorite places in a new CNN series "My Happy Place," Sundays at 10pm EST/PST 01:39 - Source: CNN Watch a remote Amazon village get Internet access CNN's Nick Paton Walsh was there as Elon Musk's Starlink satellite service is installed in a remote Amazon village, catapulting its residents forward decades. Watch 'The Whole Story: The Wired Rainforest' at 8pm ET/PT Sunday May 4. 02:22 - Source: CNN Prince Harry: 'I would love reconciliation with my family' In an explosive interview with the BBC, Prince Harry says his father, King Charles, no longer speaks to him, and that he would 'love reconciliation' with the royal family. He spoke the same day he lost a court case over the UK government's decision to strip him of his police protection. CNN's Max Foster explains. 01:12 - Source: CNN Taraji P. Henson tells Abby Phillip about finding peace in Bali Actress Taraji P. Henson tells CNN's Abby Phillip why a trip to Bali 'saved her life.' 00:58 - Source: CNN
CNN
03-05-2025
- Automotive
- CNN
Are these China-made vehicles the future?
Are these China-made vehicles the future? China's Auto Shanghai 2025 comes after President Trump's tariffs put a spotlight on the country's car market. CNN's Simone McCarthy takes a look at some of most-hyped models that are outpacing Western carmakers. 01:18 - Source: CNN Automated CNN Shorts 11 videos Are these China-made vehicles the future? China's Auto Shanghai 2025 comes after President Trump's tariffs put a spotlight on the country's car market. CNN's Simone McCarthy takes a look at some of most-hyped models that are outpacing Western carmakers. 01:18 - Source: CNN Trump says economy will be 'okay' with short-term recession In an interview with NBC News, President Donald Trump's said that the economy would be 'okay' in the long-term if there were to be a short-term recession. 01:06 - Source: CNN Migrant spends more than eight hours in a tree to avoid ICE arrest A Guatemalan migrant spent eight hours in a tree in Texas to avoid being arrested by ICE. He is currently in a detention center in Karnes City, Texas. 01:14 - Source: CNN Would you date someone with a different political point of view? Can you separate the political context from your romantic life? CNN's Audie Cornish speaks with her show crew and with Orna Guralnik, a psychoanalyst and star of Showtime's Couples Therapy. 01:17 - Source: CNN Bored at the airport? For these travelers, it's showtime! Dancer and choreographer Blake McGrath felt the urge to whip out a dance combo while waiting for his flight at Dallas-Fort Worth International. The flight left without him, but when he uploaded the video to TikTok, it quickly went viral and eventually grabbed over 6.7 million views. 01:41 - Source: CNN Vanessa Yurkevich explains Trump's big move that could raise prices President Trump ended the de minimis exemption, a major shipping loophole that allowed shipments of goods worth $800 or less to come into the United States duty-free, often more or less skipping time-consuming inspections and paperwork. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich explains what this move will mean for US consumers and prices. 01:01 - Source: CNN How rich is the Ivy League? The Trump Administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal funding to Ivy League schools. These same institutions have endowments bigger than the GDPs of some small countries. So why do these universities need money from the federal government and what's at stake if they lose it? 02:49 - Source: CNN Bookstore's treasures include $45,000 rare novel CNN's Erin Burnett takes her kids to visit the iconic Strand bookstore in New York, where even the books have film and TV credits. The store is so massive, its 3rd generation owner Nancy Wyden still discovers hidden treasures there. Join your favorite celebrities as they take you to their favorite places in a new CNN series "My Happy Place," Sundays at 10pm EST/PST 01:39 - Source: CNN Watch a remote Amazon village get Internet access CNN's Nick Paton Walsh was there as Elon Musk's Starlink satellite service is installed in a remote Amazon village, catapulting its residents forward decades. Watch 'The Whole Story: The Wired Rainforest' at 8pm ET/PT Sunday May 4. 02:22 - Source: CNN Prince Harry: 'I would love reconciliation with my family' In an explosive interview with the BBC, Prince Harry says his father, King Charles, no longer speaks to him, and that he would 'love reconciliation' with the royal family. He spoke the same day he lost a court case over the UK government's decision to strip him of his police protection. CNN's Max Foster explains. 01:12 - Source: CNN Taraji P. Henson tells Abby Phillip about finding peace in Bali Actress Taraji P. Henson tells CNN's Abby Phillip why a trip to Bali 'saved her life.' 00:58 - Source: CNN
CNN
25-04-2025
- Automotive
- CNN
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CNN
31-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
An inside look at China's National People's Congress
Delegates from across China gather in Beijing as the nation's legislature meets to hear the Communist Party's plans for 2025. CNN's Marc Stewart and Simone McCarthy took a look at what goes on behind the scenes of the week-long National People's Congress, China's largest political meeting of the year.
