Nine factories closed after toxic school tracks exposed

Authorities in Cangzhou, North China's Hebei Province shut down nine factories and detained "related personnel" on Wednesday after China Central Television (CCTV) reported that a number of workshops had been using recycled industrial waste to produce materials for the track ovals widely used in schools. Hebei provincial authorities also vowed to investigate its rubber track producers on Wednesday following the CCTV investigative report that said dozens of companies in Hebei's Baoding and Cangzhou had been using used automobile tires, electrical wires and other plastic or rubber items to produce track oval materials. These recycled materials are believed to contain toxic chemical substances and heavy metals harmful to human health, the report said. Following the CCTV report, the Cangzhou government on Wednesday set up a special task force composed of industry supervisors and police to inspect all related factories, sealing the equipment, materials and semi-finished products in these workshops, news portal thepaper.cn reported. The CCTV report has added fuel to the ongoing uproar from parents of school children in more than a dozen provinces across the country. They have been complaining that the pungent smell of newly-built rubber sports fields and tracks are causing the students nosebleeds, headaches and allergies. Nearly 100 parents of students at Beijing No.2 Experimental School in the capital's Xicheng district gathered outside the school on Wednesday night claiming that the school had cheated on them in a school-hosted test report that claimed its newly-built track oval met national emission standards. The latest test results of an independent institution invited by the parents showed that the content of toxic formaldehyde in the classrooms have all failed national standards, the parents told the Global Times. The school's principal and parents failed to reach an agreement as of press time. Dozens of students at the school suffered from nosebleeds, dizzy spells and coughs after running on the synthetic track oval in Baiyunlu School, the parents said. The Ministry of Education said in a statement published on its website Wednesday night that it is urging all educational authorities to make sure rubber tracks that fail to meet national standards be removed immediately, and halt all tracks under construction until they pass new inspections to ensure safety. No standards Similar incidents have been reported in the past two years in cities that include Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Shenyang. Experts said that clashes between parents and the schools are a result of the absence of a national standard for track and field facilities. "We can only call it a 'questionable track' for now, because we haven't received the test results to prove that the track caused all of these problems," Shi Jianhua, who helped draft rules for synthetic materials for track surfaces, told the Global Times on Wednesday. "But the 'questionable tracks' do contain certain toxic substances, such as methylbenzene which emits a foul smell, and the smell surfaces in high temperatures," Shi said. "If children are exposed to that smell for extended periods, it could damage their liver, kidney and other organs, and this damage is irreversible." A Beijing-based quality inspection organization said they have received 200 track samples from all over the country the past year. Some samples contain methylbenzene and xylene, according to news cite caixin.cn. Shi said many 'questionable tracks' were produced by small uncertified workshops, and they won the contract by offering lower prices. "A qualified track costs 250-300 yuan ($38-$45) per square meter, but these small factories do it for only 130-140 yuan per square meter," Shi said. Shi added 60-70 percent of the tracks are low-budget ones, but could not say how many were harmful to humans. When asked why there is no national standard for such tracks, Shi explained it is a complicated procedure which requires long-term testing. "It will probably take one year at best," said Shi.