Authorities in China have launched an investigation after a report that hundreds of children attending a language school built near a polluted former industrial site developed health problems, including cancer, state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday.
The municipal government of Changzhou, about 100 km northwest of Shanghai, said that since December students and faculty at the Changzhou Foreign Languages School had been complaining about an “unusual smell” emitting from three former chemical plants nearby, Xinhua said.
Of 641 students from the school who underwent health checks recently, 493 were found to have conditions ranging from chronic coughs, headaches and blood abnormalities, to lymphoma and leukemia.
