The quality of air and water near a school hit by a pollution scandal in which nearly 500 pupils have fallen ill, is “normal”, Chinese authorities say – though environmentalists and parents remain sceptical…

 Parents have complained that their teenage children have been falling ill since the school moved near a site where soil and groundwater had been contaminated by three chemical plants. A CCTV report last week said nearly 500 pupils had developed health problems, including abnormalities in their blood and thyroids, bronchitis, lymphoma and even leukaemia.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said the quality of the environment might have tested normal for now because the possibly contaminated ground had been covered with clay after parents lodged complaints in January…Ma said the government should tighten its regulations on factory emissions and enact a soil pollution law…

The Changzhou government said thyroid nodules had been diagnosed in 247 pupils and superficial lymphadenopathy – a disease affecting the lymph nodes – in another 35. But the mother said the number of pupils affected was much higher…The preliminary investigation also showed that the pollutants left by the chemical plants had not been cleared out from the soil before the school went ahead with its construction.