Friday July 13, 2007

China pollution causes 750,000 premature deaths a year

news.wired.com :

Beijing persuaded the World Bank to cut from a report findings that pollution has caused about 750,000 premature deaths in China each year, the Financial Times reported. Produced with the cooperation of Chinese government ministries over several years, the report found the deaths took place mainly from air pollution in large cities, the Financial Times reported on its Web site late Monday [2 Jul 2007], citing unnamed bank advisers and Chinese officials.

Advisers to the research team for the report - "Cost of Pollution in China: Economic Estimates of Physical Damages" - told the Financial Times that health and environment ministry officials suppressed a detailed map showing which parts of the country suffered the most deaths and other information. "The World Bank was told that it could not publish this information. It was too sensitive and could cause social unrest," one unnamed adviser told the Financial Times.

Cut from the report were findings that air pollution levels in Chinese cities cause 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths each year, the newspaper said. Another 300,000 people die from exposure to poor air indoors, and more than 60,000 die due to poor quality water, it said.

See also :

1. China overtakes US as world's biggest CO2 emitter
2. China admits 'grave need' to cut pollution
3. China's next big boom could be the foul air

(2007-07-13 12:45:42 SGT) [Env] Permalink

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