Iniciado por Republik

Los 450 Km/h son imposibles en todo el mundo sobre rueda-carril (y probablemente siempre lo serán, hay problemas técnicos con la catenaria y el balasto a esas velocidades), ahora mismo las máximas más altas en explotación creo que son los 320 Km/h franceses, y las comerciales más altas están por 280 Km/h. El tren chino creo que es tipo 250, no de los más rápidos.

China arrests 2,000 over food safety
irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Thursday, August 4, 2011, 10:54

China has arrested around 2,000 people and closed nearly 5,000 businesses in a major crackdown on illegal food additives, the government said, after a wave of contamination scares.

Authorities launched the campaign in April following a spate of tainted food scandals - included pork found on the market so loaded with bacteria that it reportedly glowed in the dark.

Nearly six million food businesses have now been investigated and more than 4,900 shut down for "illegal practices", the government's Food Safety Commission said in a statement.

Police have also destroyed "underground" food production and storage sites, and arrested around 2,000 suspects, it said, adding that anyone found breaking the law would be severely punished.

China pledged to clean up its food industry after milk products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine - added to give the appearance of high protein content - killed at least six babies and sickened 300,000 in 2008.

In 2009 the country passed a food safety law to try to allay public concern.

But authorities have continued to discover bean sprouts laced with cancer-causing nitrates, steamed buns with banned chemical preservatives, and rice laced with heavy metals, prompting the latest crackdown.

AP

China accused of lead poisoning health cover-up
The Irish Times - Thursday, June 16, 2011

JONATHAN WATTS

CHINESE AUTHORITIES are blocking access to tests and treatment for children at risk of lead poisoning, according to a report issued yesterday by rights watchdog Human Rights Watch.

The US-based group said some local officials affected by the widening pollution scandal withhold and falsify test results to reduce health costs and maintain the economic vitality of factories.

Since 2008, China has been wracked by more than a dozen lead poisoning incidents, affecting thousands of people and often prompting violent attacks against the smelting plants and battery factories that are responsible for the contamination.

In the most recent case, villagers in Menxi smashed computers and other equipment at the offices of Zhejiang Haijiu Battery Factory last month after more than 300 adults and children were found to have up to seven times the safe limit of lead in their blood.

A gradual build-up of lead in the bloodstream can damage the nervous system and lead to anaemia, muscle weakness, arrested development, attention disorder and brain damage.

In many cases, local people have long complained of health problems and unusual behaviour by their children, but the authorities have ignored them because the factories are an important source of jobs, taxes and, sometimes, bribes.

After an investigation in four provinces (Henan, Hubei, Yunnan and Shaanxi), Human Rights Watch said some authorities resort to more extreme methods to put a lid on the problem.

“Children with dangerously high levels of lead in their blood are being refused treatment and returned home to contaminated houses in polluted villages,” said Joe Amon, health and human rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Parents, journalists, and community activists who dare to speak out about lead are detained, harassed, and ultimately silenced.”

The central government has promised to step up efforts to deal with this growing health and social problem in its latest five-year economic plan. For the first time last year, the state set aside 1.5bn yuan for prevention and control of heavy metal pollution.

As the country grows richer, economic planners want China to move away from polluting, energy-intensive industries. The China Lead-Acid Battery Association says it expects 75 per cent of lead battery production to be shut down within three years. This would have major ramifications as China is the world’s biggest consumer of refined lead, the majority of which is used to make batteries.

But even if this succeeds, problems would remain as heavy metals linger in soil and rivers. The full scale of the health impacts remains unknown because the government has not instigated nationwide testing and local officials are said to limit health checks to a narrow radius around factories.

Human Rights Watch said many families remain suspicious even though their children have been given a clean bill of health.

“The doctor told us all the children in this village have lead poisoning. Then they told us a few months later that all the children are healthy. They wouldn’t let us see the results from the tests, though,” the group quotes a mother from Yunnan as saying.

Human Rights Watch wants improved testing and better treatment. Some parents have been told that drinking milk or eating garlic and eggs is an effective way to counter lead poisoning, the group said. – (Guardian service)