Eighty-three percent of the major blood lead poisoning incidents reported in China in the past decade were directly related to the lead-acid battery industry or lead smelters, a Chinese academic told the 16th Asian Battery Conference in Thailand.
Zhejiang University Professor Yeo Lin, director of the Industrial Development Research Centre in China, said that out of 54 major incidents in the past ten years, 30 had been directly related to the lead-acid battery industry and 15 to lead smelters.
International Lead Association member companies in Europe, North America and Australia have already agreed to hit voluntary blood lead targets of below 30 microgrammes per decilitre by 2017.
The lead-acid battery industry was identified as one of the five ‘most-polluting industries’ at the beginning of China’s current five-year plan in 2010, and this year China’s ‘strictest ever’ environmental law was implemented to build on a raft of regulations that have resulted in the number of lead-acid battery plants being slashed from 3,000 to 300 since 2003.
Measures in the ‘New Environmental Law’ order LAB firms to undergo regular inspections, install improved equipment and management systems, increase accountability among polluters and government bodies and give protection and legal recompense to whistleblowers.
“LAB firms have predominantly phased out ‘backward technology’ but we are well aware of the possibility that there are some smaller firms in remote areas that haven’t done this yet,” said Yeo.
“In five years of efforts we have achieved what western governments have done in 30. We recognise we have more problems and challenges, particularly that improvement in heavy metal pollution is an industrial obligation for the Chinese government.”
In 2014, Yeo said LAB production in China was more than 200 kVAh, 85-90% of which were consumed in China.
In the ten years to 2014, LAB production had increased by an average of 18% a year, she said.
