Residents plant trees in an attempt to rejuvenate the soil in front of the huge state-owned lead smelter in the town of Tianying, Anhui Province, Nov. 19, 2012.
Home to over half of China’s lead manufacturing, this Anhui province town boasts some of the world’s worst cases of metal poisoning. Lead runs off into soil and waterways because of poor mining and processing regulations, with locally grown wheat found to contain 24 times levels permitted in China. Lead pollution is known to cause learning difficulties, impaired growth, sensory problems, stomach pain, kidney malfunctions, anemia, brain damage, premature births and underdeveloped babies. Apart from lead production, battery-recycling centers dump massive quantities of other harmful heavy metals with about 140,000 people thought to be affected.
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