BEIJING: Outdoor air pollution contributes to the deaths of an estimated 1.6 million people in China every year, or about 4,400 people a day, according to a newly released scientific paper.
The paper maps the geographic sources of China's toxic air and concludes that much of the smog that routinely shrouds Beijing comes from emissions in a distant industrial zone, a finding that may complicate the government's efforts to clean up the capital city's air in time for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The authors are members of Berkeley Earth, a research organization based in Berkeley, California.
According to the data in the paper, about three-eighths of the Chinese population breathe air that would be rated "unhealthy" by United States standards. The most dangerous of the pollutants studied were fine airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which can find their way deep into human lungs, be absorbed into the bloodstream and cause a host of health problems, including asthma, strokes, lung cancer and heart attacks.
The researchers analyzed four months' worth of hourly readings taken at 1,500 ground stations in mainland China, Taiwan and other places in the region. Berkeley Earth's analysis is consistent with earlier indications that China has not been able to tackle its air pollution problems. Greenpeace found in April that, of 360 cities in China, more than 90% failed to meet national air quality standards in the first three months of 2015.
The Berkeley Earth paper's findings present data saying that air pollution contributes to 17% of all deaths in the nation each year. The authors calculate that the annual toll is 95% likely to fall between 7,00,000 and 2.2 million deaths, and their estimate of 1.6 million a year is the midpoint of that range.
The Chinese government is sensitive about public data showing that air pollution is killing its citizens, or even allusions to such a conclusion.
Researchers concluded that much of the smog afflicting Beijing came not from the city, but from coal-burning factories 200 miles southwest in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province and a major industrial hub. Promises to clean up Beijing's air were a centerpiece of the nation's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.
