The city of Beijing got worldwide attention last weekend as its readings for air pollution soared to unconscionably high levels, even for the usually smog-smothered residents of the Chinese capital. By mid-week readings had receded from “beyond index” to merely “hazardous”. But by then Shanghai was grappling with its own …
Days after choking smog blanketed China's capital, the country's premier-designate added his voice to appeals to curb the toxic haze, but he offered few specifics and said there was no quick fix. The comments from Vice Premier Li Keqiang, who is expected to take over as premier at a national …
Vice-premier calls for immediate action as capital can learn from experience of other major cities that tackled pollution, report Zhang Chunyan in London, Chen Jia in San Francisco and Wu Wencong, Tang Yue in Beijing. China will strengthen the enforcement of environmental laws, and take other measures to tackle air …
The PM2.5 readings in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, will decrease by more than 6 percent in 2015 compared with the 2010 levels, according to the city's environmental protection plan. PM2.5 are air particles smaller than 2.5 microns and able to enter the lungs. The plan was approved at an …
China has pledged to vigorously curb vehicle exhaust emissions after hazardous air pollution has shrouded parts of the country for several straight days, the environmental watchdog said Monday. China will take effective measures to limit the total amount of nitrogen oxide emitted by vehicles and intensify supervision over the production, …
BEIJING ordered government vehicles off the roads as part of an emergency response to ease air pollution that has smothered China's capital for the past three days, while warning the smog will persist until January 16. Hospitals were inundated with patients complaining of heart and respiratory ailments and the website …
Choked in dense smog for three consecutive days, Beijing started emergency response measures on Sunday to curb the air pollution at hazardous levels. Monitoring data showed the Air Quality Index in most parts of the capital reached 500, the maximum pollution level, on Sunday, the third hazy, grey day. Beijing …
Chinese media said on Monday the government had to take urgent action to tackle air pollution, which has blanketed parts of the country at dangerous levels in recent days, and one newspaper called for a re-think of a "fixation" on economic growth. China's media are under tight Communist Party control …
Air quality in Beijing was the "worst on record" on Saturday and Sunday, according to environmentalists, as the city's pollution monitoring centre warned residents to stay indoors with pollution 30-45 times above recommended safety levels. The Chinese capital, home to around 20 million people, has been wrapped in thick smog …
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death globally and air pollution can be a contributing cause. Acute myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest are frequent manifestations of coronary heart disease. The objectives of the study were to investigate the association between 4 657 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) and hourly …
There has been discrepancies between the daily air quality reports of the Beijing municipal government, observations recorded at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and Beijing residents’ perceptions of air quality. This study estimates Beijing’s daily area PM2.5 mass concentration by means of a novel technique SPA (Single Point Areal Estimation) …
China plans to release hourly air pollution monitoring data in 74 of its biggest cities starting on New Year's Day, state media said on Sunday, in a sign of increasing responsiveness to quality-of-life concerns among prosperous urban people. Choking pollution and murky grey skies in Chinese cities is a top …
In this study, size-segregated particulate matter samples were collected in Raipur, India from July 2009 to June 2010 by using eight-stage cascade impactor sampler. The annual average concentrations and associated standard deviation of PM10, PM2.5–10, PM2.5, and PM1 were 270.5 ± 105.5, 119.6 ± 44.6, 150.9 ± 78.6, and 72.5 …
A new report from the Health Effects Institute (HEI), "Understanding the Health Effects of Ambient Ultrafine Particles" concludes that while there have been a growing number of laboratory and field studies of the effects of ultrafine particles (UFPs), “toxicologic studies in animals, controlled human exposure studies, and epidemiologic studies to …
The government will issue real-time air quality monitoring data in 74 cities starting Ja 1, 2013, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said Friday. The data will include PM2.5, a gauge that monitors fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less, the ministry said. Information on major pollutants in …
Microscopic pollutant particles in the air have killed some 8,600 people prematurely this year and cost $1 billion in economic losses in four Chinese cities, according to a study by Beijing University and Greenpeace. The study of pollutant levels of PM2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, in …
China will spend 350 billion yuan ($56 billion) by 2015 to curb air pollution in major cities, the environmental watchdog said on Wednesday. Local governments will fund most of the programmes aimed at cutting the level of harmful particles in the air in 117 cities by at least 5 per …
Investing in ultra-low-sulfur fuel (ULSF, fuels with less than 10 ppm sulfur content) and clean vehicle technologies in India will not come without costs. But the benefits of these investments, in terms of reduced healthcare costs and higher productivity, far outweigh the costs. This paper discusses these issues in detail.
This is a summary of a report that studies the health risks and economic loss linked to PM2.5 in four major Chinese cities, and assesses the potential public health and economic benefits given effective improvement of PM2.5 pollution control under different scenarios. It is the first of its kind, based …
