c*v
发帖数: 53 | 1 One old news in 2009.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/china-birth-defects-pol
by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 02. 2.09
china newborn infant pollution birth defects photo
We know that China's pollution isn't good for its newborns. Recently, a
government official announced that birth defects are "constantly increasing,
" and that every 30 seconds, a baby is born with physical defects in China.
The statistic isn't new. But the official made clear something the
government has long been reluctant to say: a major cause is pollution.
"The number of newborns with birth defects is constantly increasing in both
urban and rural areas," Jiang Fan, vice-minister of the National Population
and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), said at a conference in Beijing
recently. "And the rather alarming increase has forced us to kick off a high
-level prevention plan."
Her statements, reported quietly in Chinese media in early January -- and
yesterday in translations of Western reports -- come only a few months after
parents across China were rocked by concerns that much of the country's
milk had been tainted with melamine, killing a slew of infants. With the
tacit encouragement of big milk companies, the chemical had been added by
middlemen and farmers as a protein substitute.
It's not surprising that coal-rich Shanxi province, a center of pollutant
emissions from large-scale coal and chemical industries, has recorded the
highest rate of birth defects.
In 2007, a study carried out in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi, demonstrated
that an abundance of fine particles in the air is one of the leading factors
in spontaneous abortion, birth defects, and infant death.
Other research
The country's rampant air pollution is also a serious threat to pregnant
women, increasing the risk of giving birth to under-weight infants and
resulting in chromosomal abnormalities in fetal tissues, said studies
conducted by Yale and Columbia Universities.
The report by Columbia's Center for Children's Environmental Health,
released in October after a six-year study, showed that pollution from a
coal-fired power plant in the central Chinese city of Chongqing affected the
birth weight, height and motor development skills of babies born nearby.
Another recent study, based in Jiangsu, one of China's richest provinces,
found that atmospheric pollution led to at least one-tenth of birth defects
there.
The most common defects, in order of frequency, were found to be congenital
heart disease, cleft palate and hydrocephalus (an excess of liquid in the
brain), which according to studies is provoked by motor vehicle emissions. (
Bad living habits, unbalanced nutritional diets, and old-age pregnancies are
also possible factors that cause birth defects in newborns, say researchers
.) Asthma is also a common threat to newborns living in polluted regions.
Larger effects
Pan Jianping, a professor of the Women and Child Health Research Office at
Xi'an Jiaotong University, warned in China Daily that the increasing birth
defect rate among Chinese infants would soon become a social problem,
influencing "economic development and the quality of life."
"Economic pressure is very heavy for families raising babies with physical
defects, particularly for those who live in poor rural areas," he said,
adding that families must also cope with psychological trauma due to the
social stigma attached to children born with defects.
At a time of economic concern and increasing awareness about the threat of
pollution, the government appears to be at least listening to warnings like
these, even if pollution from coal-fired plants remains rampant.
Killer coal
As the world's manufacturer, China still draws about 70% of its electric
power from burning coal. Coal is also behind 85% of China’s sulphur dioxide
emissions, 67% of its nitrogen dioxide emissions, 80% of its carbon dioxide
emissions, and creates 25% of China's waste water.
A few months ago, one study observed that Chinese coal use cost the country
about 7 percent of its GDP. Around the same time, Greenpeace noted that the
true price of Chinese coal, taking into account its impact on the
environment, should be 23 percent higher than it currently is.
"The statement from the National Population and Family Planning Commission
once again proved that coal burning is not only a climate killer, but one of
the major health hazards in China," Greenpeace China said in a statement
released Sunday.
Some researchers have cautioned that drawing solid connections between the
environment and birth defects can be tricky, and that China's "constant rise
" in its rate of birth defects may have more to do with better reporting
than with an actual increase.
And that could be the silver lining here: more transparent and better
publicized information is crucial to raising awareness about the problem,
and continuing to prompt ever antsy Beijing, and the country's multitude of
local governments, to respond.
via China Daily | a***h
发帖数: 1222 | 2 事实应该比这里写的还要严重很多
increasing,
【在 c*v 的大作中提到】
: One old news in 2009.
: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/china-birth-defects-pol
: by Alex Pasternack, New York, NY on 02. 2.09
: china newborn infant pollution birth defects photo
: We know that China's pollution isn't good for its newborns. Recently, a
: government official announced that birth defects are "constantly increasing,
: " and that every 30 seconds, a baby is born with physical defects in China.
: The statistic isn't new. But the official made clear something the
: government has long been reluctant to say: a major cause is pollution.
: "The number of newborns with birth defects is constantly increasing in both
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