Health damages from air pollution in China. Matus, Kira J.
M., Nam, Kyung-Min, Selin, Noelle E., Lamsal, Lok N., Reilly, John M. and Paltsev, Sergey (2012) Health damages from air pollution in China. Global Environmental Change, 22 (1). pp. 55-66. ISSN 0959-3780. Health damages from air pollution in China. Northern China On Health Alert As Beijing Pollution "Off The Scale", Surpassing "Hazardous" Levels.
Who would have thought that ultra-rapid industrialization, building entire empty cities to goalseek a supply-driven GDP number that has no reflection on demand reality, and ramming an entire country's industrial output into overdrive without any concern for the environmental impact would have a disastrous effect on smog levels.
Certainly not China. Which is why earlier today people across much of northern China were warned to stay indoors as the entire region was put on health alert to avoid air pollution that, in the Beijing area, was among the worst for a decade and possibly ever, is literally off the charts and has in many areas reduced visibility to under 50 metres. As SCMP reports, "in Beijing, pollution readings by the local environmental watchdog, as well as the US embassy, blew past the upper limit of "hazardous" early yesterday afternoon and stayed there for the rest of the day.
More from SCMP: AFP chimes in: And some pictures: Air pollution could become China's biggest health threat, expert warns. Air pollution will become the biggest health threat in China unless the government takes greater steps to monitor and publicise the dangers of smog, the country's leading respiratory disease specialist warned this week.
Lung cancer and cardiovascular illnesses are already rising and could get worse in the future because of factory emissions, vehicle exhausts and cigarette smoke, Zhong Nanshan, the president of the China Medical Association, told the Guardian. The outspoken doctor – who won nationwide respect for revealing the cover-up of the Sars epidemic in 2002 – said the authorities are starting to learn the lessons of past health crises by being more transparent about the risks posed by contaminated air. Unless there is more openness, he said, public trust will be eroded. "Air pollution is getting worse and worse in China, but the government data showed it was getting better and better. People don't believe that. Earlier this month, the government promised to be more open.
China combats air pollution with tough monitoring rules. Chinese authorities have set tougher rules to combat air pollution by ordering all major cities to monitor tiny particles that do serious damage to health.
One of China's leading environmental activists, Ma Jun, greeted the change as a major step forward. Surprisingly, given China's strict control of the internet, state media have acknowledged the change is partly in response to online environmental campaigners. The national air quality rules were agreed at an executive meeting of the state council presided over by the premier, Wen Jiabao, on 1 March, a statement on its website said.
They order stricter air pollution monitoring standards this year in the mega-cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin, 27 provincial capitals, and three key industrial belts: the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas, and Beijing's hinterland. Another 113 cities must adopt new standards next year, and all but the smallest cities by 2015.