BEIJING (Reuters) - About one tenth of China's farmland is polluted by lead, zinc and other heavy metals to "striking" levels exceeding official limits, a government expert said according to reports on Monday.
Wan Bentai, the chief engineer for China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, said a survey of soil pollutants this year found heavy metal from smelter chimneys, water run-off and tailings meant "in total about 10 percent of farmland has striking problems of heavy metal levels exceeding (government) limits," the Southern Metropolitan Daily reported.