A US neuroscience expert confirmed in his report that children from a small town in Queensland indeed suffered from brain damage due to lead poisoning, which the families of the affected kids had attributed to the nearby mining activities of giant resource firm Xstrata.

Professor Theodore Lidsky affirmed that five families have a case against Xstrata, the state government and the local council of Mount Isa when he connected the children's illness on prolonged exposure to lead, which he noted also caused retardation.

A legal representative of the families added that the same report also showed considerable amounts of lead contents on the children's blood samples, further strengthening the legal case against Xstrata though the lawyer stressed that the families were still devastated by "the fact that their children are paying with their futures."

The New York university professor found in particular that two kids who are both under six-year old, Sidney Body and Bethany Sanders, had blood lead levels that far exceeded the international safety limit and their subsequent brain damage could only be explained by a high amount of lead poisoning.

However, Mount Isa MP Betty Kiernan said that the findings furnished by the US professor failed to contribute any significant information on the controversy as she argued that Queensland's previously introduced measures intended to blanket children from lead exposures have been working perfectly.

Ms Kiernan, who also heads the Living with Lead Alliance in the city, even cited that "there are thousands and thousands of children who have, and are still, being raised very successfully in Mount Isa and live safely within our community."