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

[cyphercide]

Smog in China has become a threat to national security because surveillance cameras guarding sensitive sites can’t film through the thick haze, experts claim.

The smog that blankets the country for much of the year is getting worse and now the central government fears terrorists may choose a smoggy day to launch attacks.

Concerns were voiced as it was reported that an eight-year-old girl had become the youngest person in China to contract lung cancer which doctors claim was caused by the country's horrendous air pollution.



Referring to the effect on CCTV cameras, Kong Zilong, a senior project engineer and an expert in video surveillance technology, said: 'As the visibility drops below three metres, even the best camera cannot see beyond a dozen metres.'

The security fears come just days after suicide bombers protesting against oppression in the western Muslim province of Xinjiang drove a car into a crowd of tourists in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square - the site of the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protesters by government troops and tanks.

The car exploded into a fireball, killing the three occupants and two tourists and injuring 40. Five people have been arrested in connection with the attack.

According to government advisers, existing technology, such as infrared imaging, can help cameras see through fog or smoke at a certain level, but the smog on the mainland has reached apocalyptic proportion.



Professor Yang Aiping, an expert in digital imaging, said she was facing tremendous pressure because of the enormous technological challenges.

It comes as China's top negotiator at international climate talks said on Tuesday that air pollution in his own country - the world's biggest carbon emitter - is harming its citizens.

'China indeed is suffering from severe air pollution,' said Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning body.

Smoggy conditions have 'now become the norm which has severely affected the mental and physical health of the Chinese people', he added - but voiced hope for improvement in the next decade.

Xie, speaking to reporters before global climate talks in Poland next week, attributed China's air problems to the country's 'obsolete development model', its 'unreasonable industrial and energy structure" and discharge of pollutants by some companies 'in a very extensive way'.

The root cause, he added, is the 'use of fossil fuels'.



Pollution is becoming a major source of public anger in China and authorities vowed in September to reduce levels of atmospheric pollutants in Beijing and other major cities by as much as 25 per cent by 2017 to try to improve their dire air quality.

The government said pollution levels would be cut by slowing the growth of coal consumption so that its share of China's energy sources fell to 65 percent by 2017.

Last month, choking smog forced Chinese authorities to shut down one of the country's largest cities.
The dense pollution in Harbin - a city of more than 10 million people – meant that visibility was reduced to less than 10 metres.

The smog forced schools to suspend classes, caused snarling traffic and closed the airport, in what was the country's first major air pollution crisis of the winter.

The cold weather typically brings the worst air pollution to northern China because of a combination of weather conditions and an increase in the burning of coal for homes and municipal heating systems.

China is the world's biggest coal consumer and is forecast to account for more than half of global demand next year.

The particles are so dense, they block light almost as effectively as a brick wall but ‘the security devices that could function in heavy smog had yet to be invented’ Mr Kong said.

Like Britain, Beijing has invested heavily to build up a nationwide surveillance network that lets police watch every major street and corner in main cities.

 

[Okemos]

And that 8-year old boy happens to be your virtual brother in China? You better go rescue him.
What a stupid troll.

Most heavy pollution happens in NE and NW China when they burn coal for heating. Us southerners used to be jealous of their heating system, and in winter at least in Beijing I went for college, their winter is so more comfortable than my hometown.

They need either cut back room temperature in winter or upgrade to cleaner energy, esp. schools, and public buildings where heating is free.

Also generally speaking, the north has too much barren land. I still remember about 10 years years ago when I went to Beijing suburb for military training, it was horrible! All dust, dirt road.

So Mr. Troll, since India doesn't need heating in winter and has plenty of humidity, why are India cities so polluted with your puny industry? From dungs, both animals and humans?

 

[INDIC]

We need to be careful about these Chini cheats that we conduct business with. Indians should boycott any Chini product.

With gutter oil, it has been undoubtedly proven that the Chinese consume(physically eat) human waste.

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

 

[cyphercide]

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

Yes Sir!!!

But the crappy thing is that almost all Indian supermarkets sell Chinese stuff. There is no way getting away from them.

 

[Star Wars]

those poor Chinese.. they breath smog, eat gutter oil and not to mention plastic eggs...

 

[MohitV]

Dear chinese troll....

yeah we know that our streets are dirtier than yours and all that blah blah......

but thread is about china

so if u guys wanna bash india then plzzz start another thread dun ruin this one......thank you

 

[Okemos]

Dear chinese troll....

yeah we know that our streets are dirtier than yours and all that blah blah......

but thread is about china

so if u guys wanna bash india then plzzz start another thread dun ruin this one......thank you

Because if you live in glass house, you don't throw stones at your neighbor. Indians should just sit quietly with their mouths shut up.

Plus, pictures can be deceiving. Don't know whether those pictures were taken in smog or just cloudy days.

 

[MohitV]

Because if you live in glass house, you don't throw stones at your neighbor. Indians should just sit quietly with their mouths shut up.

Plus, pictures can be deceiving. Don't know whether those pictures were taken in smog or just cloudy days.

i can understand ur feelings dude......but alot of time on indian bashing threads mods have warned alot of indian members not to bring in pakistan or china or anyother country so i guess u people should do the same ..........and seriously u r "nobody" to say who should keep his mouth shut or not........and this article was published by the dailymail uk....then why bring in indians ?? jus bcoz the op is an indian ???

wat the hell....

 

[armchairPrivate]

Many major cities in China have serious air pollution. It is no different from London in the early days of industrialization, or NYC and LA in the 60s and 70s.

But it is far fetched to link the air pollution to a 8yr old lung cancer patient. There is no medical evidence of it, only speculations. Many people died young of cancer in different parts of the world, even in the most pristine environment.

 

[shuttler]

Need to check if the kid has been inhaling 2nd hand smokes in his family before the verdict on the cause

 

[Götterdämmerung]

I had a fellow student who died of lung cancer while still at the uni. She never smoked grew up in the suburb of Frankfurt in a posh area.

 

[StarCraft_ZT]

Poor girl, I guess horrendous air pollution is a cause of cancer but an indirect cause. Somatic function varies among people. Someone smoked all their lives but never got cancer.

BTW, I'm not defending or covering something about the air pollution in China, but I remember none of the major developed countries could ever have escaped from the torture of air pollution. Because industrialization helped the accumulation of capital and those heavy industry based economy once played major role in developing before transferring to service and consumed based economy. But now, they've walked out. China can get rid of pollution sooner or later.

 

[Genesis]

terrible, but that's price of becoming a great power.
You want good environment? Look at parts of Africa, that's all they got.

 

[manojb]

rest of the world gets cheaper product because they thrash their earth , water and air !! not only cities .. including villages

 

[Jlaw]

Poor girl, I guess horrendous air pollution is a cause of cancer but an indirect cause. Somatic function varies among people. Someone smoked all their lives but never got cancer.

BTW, I'm not defending or covering something about the air pollution in China, but I remember none of the major developed countries could ever have escaped from the torture of air pollution. Because industrialization helped the accumulation of capital and those heavy industry based economy once played major role in developing before transferring to service and consumed based economy. But now, they've walked out. China can get rid of pollution sooner or later.

Smog in China has become a threat to national security because surveillance cameras guarding sensitive sites can’t film through the thick haze, experts claim.

The smog that blankets the country for much of the year is getting worse and now the central government fears terrorists may choose a smoggy day to launch attacks.

Concerns were voiced as it was reported that an eight-year-old girl had become the youngest person in China to contract lung cancer which doctors claim was caused by the country's horrendous air pollution.



Referring to the effect on CCTV cameras, Kong Zilong, a senior project engineer and an expert in video surveillance technology, said: 'As the visibility drops below three metres, even the best camera cannot see beyond a dozen metres.'

The security fears come just days after suicide bombers protesting against oppression in the western Muslim province of Xinjiang drove a car into a crowd of tourists in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square - the site of the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protesters by government troops and tanks.

The car exploded into a fireball, killing the three occupants and two tourists and injuring 40. Five people have been arrested in connection with the attack.

According to government advisers, existing technology, such as infrared imaging, can help cameras see through fog or smoke at a certain level, but the smog on the mainland has reached apocalyptic proportion.



Professor Yang Aiping, an expert in digital imaging, said she was facing tremendous pressure because of the enormous technological challenges.

It comes as China's top negotiator at international climate talks said on Tuesday that air pollution in his own country - the world's biggest carbon emitter - is harming its citizens.

'China indeed is suffering from severe air pollution,' said Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning body.

Smoggy conditions have 'now become the norm which has severely affected the mental and physical health of the Chinese people', he added - but voiced hope for improvement in the next decade.

Xie, speaking to reporters before global climate talks in Poland next week, attributed China's air problems to the country's 'obsolete development model', its 'unreasonable industrial and energy structure" and discharge of pollutants by some companies 'in a very extensive way'.

The root cause, he added, is the 'use of fossil fuels'.



Pollution is becoming a major source of public anger in China and authorities vowed in September to reduce levels of atmospheric pollutants in Beijing and other major cities by as much as 25 per cent by 2017 to try to improve their dire air quality.

The government said pollution levels would be cut by slowing the growth of coal consumption so that its share of China's energy sources fell to 65 percent by 2017.

Last month, choking smog forced Chinese authorities to shut down one of the country's largest cities.
The dense pollution in Harbin - a city of more than 10 million people – meant that visibility was reduced to less than 10 metres.

The smog forced schools to suspend classes, caused snarling traffic and closed the airport, in what was the country's first major air pollution crisis of the winter.

The cold weather typically brings the worst air pollution to northern China because of a combination of weather conditions and an increase in the burning of coal for homes and municipal heating systems.

China is the world's biggest coal consumer and is forecast to account for more than half of global demand next year.

The particles are so dense, they block light almost as effectively as a brick wall but ‘the security devices that could function in heavy smog had yet to be invented’ Mr Kong said.

Like Britain, Beijing has invested heavily to build up a nationwide surveillance network that lets police watch every major street and corner in main cities.

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