China's pollution so bad it 'causes eight-year-old to develop lung cancer'

[cyphercide]

Where is the link to this article?

http://www.coloradonewsday.com/nati...causes-8-year-old-to-develop-lung-cancer.html

To the list of China’s environmental horrors, add one: an 8-year-old with lung cancer. Doctors at a hospital in coastal Jiangsu province blamed the girl’s condition on pollution, according to a state media. The child, who has not been identified, reportedly lived near a busy road and was exposed to harmful particles and dust. She is being called China’s youngest-ever lung-cancer patient.

The news comes amid growing concern about the health effects of air pollution. Last month the World Health Organization for the first time classified air pollution as a cause of cancer. The agency said air pollution caused 220,000 cancer deaths in 2010 and that more than half of lung-cancer deaths from particulate matter were in East Asia. Lung-cancer deaths in China have multiplied more than four times in the past three decades, according to government statistics.

The problem is particularly bad in northern China, where coal-powered heating systems add extra filth to the mix. These emissions have shortened the lifespans of Chinese people living north of the Huai River by an average of five years, according to a study published this year by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an American journal. In Beijing, the smog-addled capital, cancer is now the leading cause of death, with lung-cancer rates jumping 60% in a period of 10 years.

(MORE: In China’s Polluted Cities, the Smog May Be Here to Stay)

Chinese urbanites are all too familiar with chest-rattling smog. In the northern Chinese city of Harbin last month, the pollution was so thick that kids were granted a “smog day” off school, roads were closed and planes grounded. State media said the PM 2.5 reading (which measures the level of dangerous particulate matter in the air) “exceeded” 500. A Reuters report put the figure at 1,000, or 40 times higher than what the World Health Organization deems safe. Last year, Beijing endured weeks of off-the-chart pollution that English speakers now refer to as the “airpocalypse.”

Perhaps the only upside of the city-shuttering smog is that it has forced the Chinese government to own up to the problem. This fall, the government announced a new blueprint for cleaning up the air by 2017. The plan calls for 5 billion yuan, or $817 million, to fight pollution. There will also be color-coded emergency measures for bad pollution days in Beijing. On red days, for instance, half the city’s cars will be idled and schools closed. Under a code orange, factories will slow and activities like fireworks and outdoor barbecues will be restricted.

These plans are better than nothing, but many wonder why the government hasn’t done more to keep people safe. After news of the 8-year-old’s diagnosis broke, hundreds of people commented on the story, wishing the child luck and expressing their own fears about living in a region where the air quite literally kills.

Channeling the sentiment of many here, one reader invoked a Chinese idiom: “Hao hao xuexi, tian tian xiang shang,” or, roughly, “Study hard and make progress every day.” Parents and teachers have been saying it for years, urging children to work harder, do better. But to this old phrase, they added a second bit of advice that reflects the dark mood as the country heads into another toxic winter: “Study hard and make progress every day,” they wrote. “And then leave China.”

http://world.time.com/2013/11/05/ch...s-just-8-years-old-and-pollution-is-to-blame/

Want more sources? I'd be happy to oblige.

 

[cyphercide]

Smoggy Beijing sees lung cancer cases soar

9 November 2013 Last updated at 08:35 ET

The number of lung cancer cases in the Chinese capital Beijing has soared over the last decade.

According to figures published by the state-run Xinhua news agency, they have increased by more than 50%.

Beijing health officials say smoking is still the number one cause of lung cancer, but they admit air pollution is also a factor.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently estimated that polluted air kills millions of people every year.

Pollution kills millions
Xinhua said the latest figures - which are for only one city and one disease - were issued by Beijing municipal health bureau.

They show the number of lung cancer patients per 100,000 people was 39.56 in 2002, but had jumped to 63.09 by 2011.

The article gave no reason for the increase in patients.
Beijing health officials said lung cancer was linked to lifestyle choices, with smoking still the top cause. But they said passive smoking and air pollution could also be a factor.

Last month the WHO issued a scientific report detailing the link between air pollution and a number of different diseases and illness.

It estimated that breathing in fine particles contributed to 3.2 million premature deaths a year across the world and killed more than 200,000 from lung cancer.

"More than half of the lung cancer deaths attributable to ambient fine particles were projected to have been in China and other East Asian countries," said the WHO.

Correspondents say Chinese people are becoming increasingly worried about the health problems caused by the thick air pollution that often blankets much of their country, a result of rapid economic expansion coupled with poorly enforced laws designed to protect the environment.

Earlier this week it was reported that a eight-year-old girl in Jiangsu province had become the country's youngest lung cancer patient. Air pollution was blamed.

The hospital that was supposed to be treating her denied the reports, but the outcry caused by the story shows just how concerned people have become.


BBC News - Smoggy Beijing sees lung cancer cases soar

 

[eazzy]

So what ?

 

[Chaman_Lal]

So what ?

Were not you talking about life expectancy a few posts back?

 

[eazzy]

Yes and I believe Chinese live significantly longer than Indians.
I better live in a polluted but industrialised country than in a non polluted but backward one.
India is not even an option as it is backward AND polluted.

What I am sure is that China is on the right path dealing with pollution.

 

[tranquilium]

They even make artificial plastic rice or fake eggs which are hazardous to the health.

Yeah, people eat plastic rice or fake eggs. Is this why India's life expectancy is 10 year lower than Chinese life expectancy?

The two biggest polluter in the world are China and US. Why is that? Because these two countries has the largest number of cars and largest industry.

Also, for the "blanket the country part", considering the percentage of internet users, I know this is a shocker for many India posters: Life exists outside a few major cities. Go outside once a while and you will realize how stupid it is to use a few cities as representative of the country.