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Pollution kills 460,000 a year in China, World Bank says

Reuters

Latest comment posted at 7:25 AM EDT 03/07/07

Newspaper report says Beijing asked institution not to publish estimates for fear they could trigger social unrest ...Read the full article

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  1. Stude Ham from Outremont, Canada writes:

    Will any of the people competing in the 2008 olympic farce be adversely affected by the chinese pollution problems, which it is to be understood, is one of the deadliest anywhere in the world? Or will the foods these people eat during the 3 weeks of wasted effort be their own undoing... like it appears to have already happened to others eating the food stuff exported from china?

    Now they publish these findings? Isn't it odd?
  2. P Martin from St. John's, NL, Canada writes: Do not marginalize the number of deaths caused by pollution in China. Whatever deaths Bush may be responsible for, this is not the place to express it. But I guess insensitivity is the hallmark of a dead soul.
  3. keith stringer from Cincinnati, United States writes: Where are the usual apologists for past Chinese government policy on this chatsite when a good whitewash is really needed? Just a few weeks ago, on the topic of dangerous pollution hurting the health of city dwellers, somebody here actually offered Beijing and Shanghai as model cities for Canada and America to follow! At the time of that post, when it was subsequently pointed out that Beijing and Shanghai follow Mexico City as the top three cities on a list of world cities with the absolute WORST levels of air pollution (cities whose contaminated air poses the greatest risk to urban children on the planet), the question was asked: 'Are you wanting to see people in Calgary and Vancouver wear mouth and nose filters so they can emulate the greatness of Beijing and Shanghai?'. And the response to that question was a deflective denial of the seriousness of problems afflicting Chinese cities. Well well, this news report appears to nicely demolish that denial!
  4. val tonik from toronto, Canada writes: What's up with china these days? Things like SARS and other deceases, deadly food ingredients, droughts, killing pollution...what a dirty and mindless government is in that country. Oh yes they have to wear masks in downtown Beijing because the air is yellow from pollutants. This is a shameful and unfortunate demise of Chinese nation. But the sad thing is that they are exporting this dirtiness around the world. Where is the UN and World Health organization in all that?
  5. Bruuks Brew from Canada writes: 7 years ago I spent a year living in China, in the city that was at the top of the list for worst air quality in the world.
    Each morning when I woke up and looked out the window, I looked towards the hills which were just a couple of kilometers from where I lived. If I could see them, the air was moderately clear. If not, it would be a typical bad day.
    If I left the windows in my apartment open, everything would be covered in a thin layer of black soot when I returned at the end of the day. Every time I washed my clothes the water turned black.
    The culprit - Coal. Dirty Coal. Burned for everything - cooking, electricity, heat, boiling water (for drinking).
    It was not uncommon to see people wearing masks as part of their daily attire. I didn't want to be an insulting foreigner, so I put up with it, and just let the filter in my nose do it's job.
    I can only imagine what it would be like to live in that for your whole life. It makes a smog day in southern Ontario look good.
  6. Barton Lincoln Jonesboro, the Second from Metro Toronto, Canada writes: Ahhh....some good news amidst the gloom of our usual stories.

    How come they never tell us how many citizens they execute each year and then send the bill for the bullet(s) to the victim's family?

    Barton Lincoln Jonesboro, the Second.
  7. Alberto Bayo from Canada writes: And Chinese pollution is probably killing thousands more in nearby countries.
  8. Mark OMeara from Vancouver, Canada writes: Thanks, excellent story Globe and Mail ! especially for the Phto Gallery link entitled 'China's Most Polluted City' which turns out to be a pic of Gilbert Arenas crotch! HAHAHAHA!
  9. James C. from Chaozhou, Guangdong, China writes: ' Bruuks Brew from Canada writes: 7 years ago I spent a year living in China, in the city that was at the top of the list for worst air quality in the world.'
    ----------
    sounds as if you were living in either lanzhou or somewhere in shanxi. tiayuan? linfen?
  10. Bruuks Brew from Canada writes: James C.

    Well done! Taiyuan.

    I lived in Tianjian a couple years before that, and it wasn't too bad.
  11. Stan from Canada from from all over Canada, Canada writes: These are the same clowns the Hight Priests of Kyoto want to give a free pass to. Anytime the Government of Canada inquires about human rights the same free thinking types, jump up and down and clamour about not wanting to offend the Huge Dragon and how dare we criticize a great and ancient culture. What a load of bunk. 3rd world backward country at best. But at least they got the Olympics.
  12. G B from Canada writes: natural selection...
  13. Canadian Patriot from Toronto, Canada writes: 'China, home to some of the world's 20 most polluted cities, is redoubling its efforts to clean up the environment.'

    Redoubling....hmmm....Let's look at this mathematically, shall we?

    Solve for e or effort, where p or previous effort = 0.

    e = (p X 2) x 2 = ???
  14. Wanderingwilly Longtail from Victoria, Canada writes: And some of you complain about second hand smoke? Or is it the not in my backyard so don't care type of thing? Where is the outrage??
  15. Fifay Chu from Toronto, Canada writes: Blame China for every problem in this world. A population of 1.3 billions (minus 460K) can take lots of blames per capita.
  16. terry stortz from Paris, Canada writes: Does that count the toothpaste deaths?
  17. Bruce Banner from Toronto, Canada writes: 'The authorities are closing down dirty industrial plants, raising car fuel-efficiency standards, tweaking taxes to discourage energy-intensive production... and spraying the hillsides with green paint to encourage eco-friendly mindsets'
  18. Tony . from Waterloo, Canada writes: It's stories like this that drive home to me, as something of an environmentally concerned citizen (if not necessarily an 'environmentalist'), why the current concern over climate change is rather pointless.

    I've read the science and do believe that human activity is likely having an effect on our climate, but I just don't see it as that big of a problem in the grand scheme of things. While climate change might cause some possibly cause some tough-to-predict problems over the next century, we can see here that air and water pollution are DEFINITELY causing major problems RIGHT NOW .

    Even if these numbers are greatly overstated, it's pretty certain that many thousands of people are being killed by pollution-related illnesses in China every year. While we're doing somewhat better here in Canada we're hardly in the clear. Most estimates put deaths per year due to pollution-related illnesses in Canada into the thousands (not to mention many billion dollars of health care money).

    So, fix air and water pollution first. If non-toxic greenhouse gases like CO2 also go down at the same time, all the better, but keep the focus on the real problems affecting people today.
  19. Ranald Walton from Canada writes: One can just sense the wheels of protectionism gearing up in respect to China (the almost daily new stories about someone dying from tainted Chinese drugs, or lead paint on Thomas the Tank toys, or pet food etc). It will be bad for all of us if (when) China loses largely free access to the North American market but especially the mercantile Chinese economy. In my lifetime people have predicted the US losing world hegemony to first Russia, then Japan and now China. Personally, I'll believe it when I see it. No doubt we are entering a more multipolar world, but China has far more profound problems than does the USA. Canada, right next to the US, is the best place in the world to live now and has the brightest future.
  20. Synchronicity Tour from Canada writes: The fact that they chose Beijing is further evidence how corrupt the Olympics are. The whole world will now see live via satellite how awful this country is.
  21. Mark OMeara from Vancouver, Canada writes: When the olympics come there will be clean air. As in the past, they will just shut all the factories down two weeks before the olympics, and tell people not to drive their cars.

    China will shine when the olympics are on!
  22. posted on behalf of a knowledgeable person from Calgary, Canada writes: China is rapidly industrializing. To accommodate the addition of 1 million people every 90 days to its cities, it plans to build 700 low grade coal fired electrical generating plants in the next few years. That is not a typo. 700 new plants. So far as I know, China uses no scrubbers on their stacks. So the number that is quoted in this report will pale in comparison to the number of deaths which will occur in the next 10 years.
  23. M R from toronto, Canada writes: People complain about the air and water pollution here. I wonder how many have been to China. You have to be there (in China) to see what it is REALLY like and how bad it REALLY is.

    Do not speak of which you do not know.
  24. Paul Thompson from Canada writes: I've only spent a few days in Beijing, and I found it to be a fascinating place and I didn't notice the air to be unduly bad at the time. That experience gave me the urge to see more of China, but the thought of all that pollution is a deterrent. There is no excuse for them to build hundreds more coal-burning plants without any scrubbers. The financial affairs writer Neil Reynolds wrote about a new design for thse plants a short time ago; in it he claimed these were capable of sequestering all of the carbon as well as the other pollutants. Can anyone enlighten us further on this matter?
  25. peter johnston from Beijing, China writes: I have never submitted a comment here b4 however I felt compelled because of the negative tone of this conversation. I have lived here in Beijing as a Canadian expat for 10 yrs. When I arrived in 1998 the air quality in Beijing was noticeably bad. Now however the difference is dramatic. Not perfect but better. Getting better each year.Canadians ,according to most Chinese , are known for their tolerance and calm nature. Shame shame on those of you who sit comfortably in Canada and comment on circumstances of which you have no 1st hand or present knowledge . As I sit at my computer today looking out at the deep blue and sunny sky and the mountains in the distance , I wonder how any of you would fare when given the monumental tasks of managing unprecedented change in a city of 15 million people.

    I thought the litmus test for judging someone's actions was whether they acknowledged the problem and take steps to correct it. Not continually chastised because the problem existed in the first place.

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