Record Beijing air pollution

[Ashotep]

BEIJING Beijing schools kept children indoors and hospitals saw a spike in respiratory cases Monday following a weekend of off-the charts pollution in China's smoggy capital, the worst since the government began being more open about air-quality data.

City authorities, who began releasing figures about some of the worst kinds of pollutants early last year, ordered many factories to scale back emissions and were spraying water at building sites to try to tamp down dust and dirt worsening the noxious haze hanging over the city.

Record Beijing air pollution forces warning from China officials to keep kids indoors

Their air pollution is so bad it looks like a heavy fog. I bet lung cancer rates are high in these places. 25 micrograms is what is considered safe by the World Health Organization. The US Embassy said that they measured micrograms levels at 886. These levels are considered beyond index.

Have to wonder how this will effect pollution levels in the rest of the world, can't be good.

[Gary Meadows]

Their air pollution is so bad it looks like a heavy fog. I bet lung cancer rates are high in these places. 25 micrograms is what is considered safe by the World Health Organization. The US Embassy said that they measured micrograms levels at 886. These levels are considered beyond index.

Have to wonder how this will effect pollution levels in the rest of the world, can't be good.

It really must effect other areas. Scary thought.

[Ashotep]

You know their people must be sick from this, makes me wonder how they work so hard and long hours in those factories. This has been going on for so long I bet birth defects are high in the area. I can't imagine living with that much pollution.

[JasonPollock]

China really needs to clean this up, and fast. A lot of countries take a very lax stance on pollution, but you've seen the figures - this is outrageous. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a high rate of lung cancer, birth defects and who else knows what... China needs to do something, otherwise this could spread further afield, only causing more problems.

[Taun]

I was in Amman Jordan back in 2003 and as we were leaving - standing on the runway, you could not see across the runway because of the thick brown smog... It was hard to breathe and I can not imagine actually having to live in that crap...

[Render]

China Pollution Anger Spills into State Media

Public anger in China at dangerous levels of air pollution, which blanketed Beijing in acrid smog, spread Monday as state media queried official transparency and the nation’s breakneck development.

The media joined Internet users in calling for a re-evaluation of China’s modernization process, which has seen rapid urbanization and dramatic economic development at the expense of the environment.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/weather-extreme-events/china-air-pollution-130114.htm

[Black Red Devil]

They managed to clean up the city for a short period of time during the Olympics just because they needed the games to enhance their profit and exposure for financial gains. China is the worst pollutant nation in the world.

They've managed to build the best world economy by flooding the market with cheap products thanks to slave labor, which has enhanced and enriched China' industrialisation which in turn has increased pollution levels around the country which spreads across the world because the Communist Govt has full monopoly on all decision making policies in the country. I doubt whether they even have a Health Department and if they do, you can be assured it's run by a Commy crone.

So basically, until the Chinese Communist Govt decides it's time and in their best interest to act, nothing will happen.

[+and-then]

Chief offender here is coal. They use it to cook and heat their homes and then they breathe the exhaust the rest of the day - awful...

[Simbi Laveau]

I read an article yesterday ,expats are fleeing the city because of it .