AN artificial running track installed at a kindergarten in Songjiang District over the summer holidays was yesterday torn up after parents blamed it for causing nosebleeds, rashes and coughing in their children.

　　The decision to remove the track was made by local officials after speaking with the company that laid it, the Shanghai Education Commission said in a statement yesterday.

　　Several parents complained of a pungent odor emanating from the track at Huating No. 2 Kindergarten’s New Ideal campus, the statement said.

　　A citywide inspection of all such tracks laid this year has been launched, the findings of which will be released in due course, it said.

　　Earlier this week, more than 200 pupils at the Jade Campus of Pujiang Town No. 1 Kindergarten in Minhang District were relocated after they experienced nosebleeds and other ailments that their parents attributed to a new running track.

　　Local officials said they are conducting laboratory tests on samples of the track and will publish the results within the next 10 days.