Villagers in northern China clashed with police outside a lead smelter blamed in the poisoning of more than 600 children, reports said Monday.

From Church Hill to Richmond’s North Side and now to the city’s South Side, Latoya Avent has crisscrossed Richmond to find a home that doesn’t have a lead paint problem. “We just moved on June 1 because of lead,“ Avent said. Testing last month showed her 3-year-old daughter’s blood lead level was elevated. At 24 micrograms per deciliter of blood, it was more than twice the limit of 10.

DANVILLE—A Pittsylvania County supervisor hopes federal and state agencies will look into elevated lead levels at home wells near Coles Hill, where Virginia Uranium Inc. has done exploratory drilling in hopes of one day mining uranium. Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Hank Davis has proposed a resolution for the Board of Supervisors that would ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Virginia Department of Health to investigate higher amounts of lead in home wells in the Sheva area near Coles Hill.

Mom-and-pop makers of toys and other products for children fear that costly new government regulations could put them out of business soon after Christmas. After recalls of millions of tainted toys from China over the past two years, Congress approved a new law in August limiting the amount of lead and other chemicals in children’s products.