China's Toxic School; 493 Of 641 Students Have Bronchitis, Dermatitis, Lymphoma, Leukemia

The relocation of the Changzhou Foreign Languages School to a new 153-acre campus last fall was supposed to mark a bright new era for the private institution, where many of the 2,500 seventh- through 12th-grade students aspire to attend college abroad. But soon after the buildings opened in September, students noticed strange smells that some likened to rotten eggs and began complaining of cramps, skin ailments and other health problems.

Parents began to suspect the area may have been contaminated by chemical and pesticide factories that had once been located across the street. In January, classes were suspended for about two weeks while tests were conducted by provincial and city environmental authorities. Those checks found elevated levels of contaminants, though officials insisted the problem wasn't serious.

But this week, state-run China Central Television aired an expose reporting that the school in the city of Changzhou, about 670 miles southeast of Beijing, had knowingly been built on land rife with contamination. The CCTV report said 641 students had undergone physical examinations, with 493 diagnosed with illnesses including bronchitis, dermatitis, lymphoma and leukemia.

Although the report did not detail how many cases of each disease were found, it quoted experts as saying the ailments were probably linked to chloroform, benzene and other toxic substances in the soil and water.

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http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-school-toxic-20160420-story.html