Chinese provinces have begun shutting down lead smelters for environmental checks after more than 2,000 children tested positive for high levels of lead in two separate cases this month.

At least three lead smelters in Central China's Henan province and two in Shaanxi province, with a combined capacity of about 6 percent of China's annual production, were ordered to temporarily halt operations in recent days, officials said.

Henan, the top refined-lead producing province in the country, has shut 240,000 tons of annual lead-smelting capacity after the poisoning scandal broke, smelter officials said yesterday.