In southern China, Wang Fengping worked for years in plants that produced cadmium batteries for the likes of Mattel Inc., Toys "R" Us Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Like hundreds of her colleagues, Ms. Wang regularly inhaled the toxic red cadmium dust that filled the air in the plant. Now, at 45, Ms. Wang is often too weak to walk. Her kidneys have failed, and her doctors have identified cadmium poisoning as the likely culprit. About 400 other workers at her former employer,...GP Batteries International Ltd. [part of Gold Peak], have been found to harbor unsafe levels of cadmium... [The cadmium battery] industry is sickening workers and poisoning the soil and water [in China]... This year, the European Union is banning the sale of nearly all cadmium batteries. A few companies, including Hasbro Inc., are eschewing the battery... [W]ithout question, there are safe cadmium plants in China. But...China has dozens of so-called "hot spots" where the cadmium contamination is similar to levels at U.S. superfund sites... [The] metals are entering China's food supply... The battery industry isn't the only source of environmental cadmium contamination in China, but it is a major contributor... Last year, at least 20 workers at a Panasonic Corp. [part of Matsushita] cadmium-battery plant in Wuxi were found to have elevated levels of the toxin, and two were diagnosed as poisoned. In 2005, 1,000 workers at Huanyu Power Source Co...were also found with cadmium exposure. Both Panasonic and Huanyu say they have taken care of the affected workers, providing health care and compensation exceeding the requirements of Chinese law... GP's clients...[have included] Energizer Battery Co., Procter & Gamble Co.'s Duracell, Spectrum Brands Inc.'s Ray-O-Vac... GP management says it wasn't aware of the extent of the cadmium danger. "We knew it was dangerous, but we thought that if it was handled in a reasonable manner you should be OK," says Henry Leung, chief operating officer of GP Batteries. "This is all new for China."... GP says it has paid out more than $1 million in compensation and medical care for affected workers and has exceeded the legal requirements... After revelations of its cadmium-battery problems arose, GP quit making them at its plants, and now outsources that production to independent factories in China... Mattel and Toys "R" Us...say they are exploring alternatives [to cadmium batteries]. Wal-Mart no longer purchases cadmium batteries from GP but declined to comment on whether it still uses them in its products. [also refers to Marathon Battery]