Foul is fair, air is foul
The latest report of the World Bank citing the death count due to air and water pollution in China has made the Chinese government uneasy. Chinese officials now urge the bank to revise the report, Cost of Pollution in China: Economic Estimates of Physical Damages.
According to the report, every year more than 750,000 premature deaths occur in China due to air and water pollution. The report contains maps showing regional break-up of deaths, with the maximum clusters in China's coal-belt region in the north-west. The government fears the report might spark a "social unrest'. Officials call the report "unreliable' and based on "uncertain methodology'.