Resolution reached in first 'toxic track' court case

A Beijing kindergarten has agreed to pay an environmental protection association 100,000 yuan ($14,500) to settle a dispute over a running track that contained potentially toxic substances.

Beijing High People's Court announced the result on Monday via its official microblog, saying that Liu Shikun Wanxiang Xintian Kindergarten and the China Social Assistance Foundation had come to the agreement following a period of mediation.

The money will be used to remove the offending running track and for environmental protection, the court quoted the plaintiff as saying.

It was China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation that originally filed the case against the kindergarten at the capital's No 4 Intermediate People's Court in June, accusing it of failing to replace its running track despite concerns that it was causing sickness among children.

There had been complaints of children suffering nosebleeds, skin reactions and vomiting after using the track, which was renovated in April last year.

Similar reports of illnesses related to synthetic running tracks and playgrounds appeared at other schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Hebei province during this period, attracting the attention of the public, education experts, the government, parents and environmental protection institutes.

During the two sessions in March, the Education Ministry said it was working with other government departments to draft new standards for school running tracks.

Education Minister Chen Baosheng said a lack of updated standards was to blame for the issues reported last year, with some schools still adhering to criteria that were set two decades ago.

"There are also problems with the bidding process," he said, noting that price, rather than quality, was often a deciding factor.

Despite Chen's assurances, Ma Yong, who represented the plaintiff in the case, said he still had his concerns.

"The new standards are a veil. As the weather warms, the problems associated with these running tracks may reappear," he was quoted as saying by Caixin.

"What we wanted to expose with this case was the disordered management in those industries that provide track-building materials, as well as the government's inadequate level of supervision."

The case, the first of its kind since the toxic track problem was exposed last year, would not be the last, according to Ma

"After all, we cannot rely on governmental supervision alone to solve these problems," he said.