Record Beijing air pollution forces warning from China officials to keep kids indoors

Cyclists travel on the road on a hazy day in Huaibei, in central China's Anhui province, Jan. 14, 2013. / AP

BEIJING Beijing schools kept children indoors and hospitals saw a spike in respiratory cases Monday following a weekend of off-the charts pollution in China's smoggy capital, the worst since the government began being more open about air-quality data.

City authorities, who began releasing figures about some of the worst kinds of pollutants early last year, ordered many factories to scale back emissions and were spraying water at building sites to try to tamp down dust and dirt worsening the noxious haze hanging over the city.

Demand spiked for face masks and air purifiers, and hospitals saw surges of up to 30 percent in residents seeking help for breathing problems, state-run media outlets reported. Schools in several districts were ordered to cancel outdoor activities such as flag-raisings and sports classes, and in an unusual public announcement, Beijing authorities advised all residents to "take measures to protect their health."

"It's really terrible. I'm extremely upset, but there's really nothing much I can do," said a Beijing resident out for a morning stroll. Like many Chinese, the man would give only his surname, Kang.

Another man, a 60-year-old retiree surnamed Chen, said his elderly relatives had moved to stay with family members outside the city to avoid the pollution.

"I'm in pretty good shape, but the older folks have a lot of problems with their hearts, breathing, and high blood pressure," Chen said.

Levels of PM2.5 particle pollution over the weekend reached the highest levels since the Beijing government began publicly releasing figures following a public outcry. In separate monitoring by the U.S. Embassy, levels were at 886 micrograms per cubic meter in a reading that was labeled "beyond index."

By Monday, levels had declined to about 350 micrograms on the Beijing government scale — down from a high above 700 but still way above the level of 25 considered safe by the World Health Organization.

PM2.5 are tiny particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size, or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair. They can penetrate deep into the lungs, and measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

A woman wearing a mask crosses a road during severe pollution in Beijing, Jan. 12, 2013.

/ Getty

Xi Xinglu, the manager of a Beijing-based online vendor of pollution masks, told CBS News on Monday that his sales of dust-proof masks spiked 40 percent last week. His most popular model is the N95, made by 3M, which costs a little less than one dollar.

Made primarily for occupational health purposes ("grinding, sanding, bagging and general processing of minerals", according to the manufacturer's website), in China, however, the product is advertised as an "anti-PM2.5" device.

The Beijing Shijitan Hospital received 20 percent more patients than usual at its respiratory health department, Dr. Huang Aiben said. Most patients were coughing and sought treatment for chronic bronchitis, asthma and other respiratory illnesses, Huang said.

"Because these dust particles are relatively fine, they can be directly absorbed by the lung's tiny air sacs. The airway's ability to block the fine dust is relatively weak and so bacteria and viruses carried by the dust can directly enter the airway," Huang said.

Huang said exposure to such high levels of pollution over the short term can cause bacterial and viral infections, and prolonged exposure could result in tumors.

Beijing's air started to worsen on Thursday, and Beijing's monitoring center said the pollution was expected to linger until Tuesday.

Weather conditions are a factor, as a lack of wind means pollutants can easily accumulate and fail to dissipate, said Pan Xiao Chuan, a professor at Peking University's public health department.

"Recent pollution doesn't mean there is an increase in the discharge of pollutants," he said.

The government started publishing PM2.5 readings last year after public demands for more detailed air quality data, prompted in part by a Twitter feed from the U.S. Embassy that reported readings from the building's roof. A growing Chinese middle class has become increasingly vocal about the quality of the environment. Hourly air quality updates are now available online for more than 70 cities.

Air pollution is a major problem in China due to the country's rapid pace of industrialization, reliance on coal power, explosive growth in car ownership and disregard for environmental laws. It typically gets worse in the winter because of weather conditions and an increase in coal burning for heating needs.

Several other cities, including Tianjin on the coast east of Beijing and southern China's Wuhan city, also reported severe pollution over the last several days.

[FredDstur]

Give it like 5-10 years, and most picturesque locations in the world will no longer be pleasing to the eye nor an suitable setting for recreation.

[sciline]

Don't forget that we are down wind from China!
"Inter Planetary Time Shares"
Unless you are fortunate enough to have a "Time Share" on another Planet, you had better recognize that we DO NOT live on a Planet with "Infinite" Open Space to be used as someone's PROFIT GENERATING, PRIVATE PLAYGROUND.
All Nations must survive under NATURE'S, one and only, BIO-DOME, an Atmospherically "Finite", "Closed System". Where, if anything is broken or corrupted, it cannot be fixed or replaced! As with our Two(2) most Essential, Un-Fixable and Irreplaceable Components: the Air we Breath and the Water we Drink. Once gone, these two components are, not only Gone, but Gone Forever! Man-Made Pollution, aided by Global Warming -whose causes may be argued but whose presence is palpable, are inflicting, and will continue to inflict, an insidious toll on our supply of Breathable Air and Drinkable Water.
As All Nations do reside under this one, GLOBAL BIO-DOME, ergo, when any Nation Pollutes, sooner or later, all Nations will eventually suffer the consequences of that Pollution! THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE POLLUTION SPEWED INTO THE AIR BY THE BURNING OF COAL, or other types of Pollution, IN CHINA OR HERE, IS THE TIME IT WILL TAKE FOR THAT POLLUTION TO ACCUMULATE AND BE MOVED BY PREVAILING WINDS OR OCEAN TIDES UNDER THE "DOME", FROM CHINA TO HERE or elsewhere!
NATURE'S BIO-DOME is filling up inexorably, Top to Bottom and Bottom to Top, faster than we can pump it out. Even if we could possibly pump it out, there would be no place to pump it to?
We are becoming a planetary "Titanic". And that legendary "Iceberg" is getting inexorably closer every day of continued world-wide Pollution!
Due to obsessive GREED and Ignorance, we have long abandoned any and all respect for our Environment. And Mother Nature will never cease to retaliate against our sociopathic disdain for her Balanced Environment. We had better wake up to the fact that alternative, renewable, non-polluting Energy sources are a MUST and are needed NOW! Because Mother Nature never sleeps and she is growing weary of our attempts to destroy the Environmental Balance she worked centuries to perfect!
There is little question that the Petroleum and Coal industries, with their Billions of dollars of under ground inventory, will not find any form of Renewable Energy sources to their liking.
Be that as it may, they, as all us, must eventually accept the Maxim that: "Change is, and always will be, the only constant."
We had better turn our attention from too much Federal Spending and leaving Future Generations mired in Debt, to worrying more about leaving Future Generations a Planet with Breathable Air and Clean Drinking Water!
Tom Nass
5th Marine Division - WWII

[reball-lv]

A strong Central Government should be able to institute adequate environemental protection controls to minimize such negatives. Surely the concept of "saving face" is reason enough alone, let alone saving your people as a race.
If America and Europe can do it, and have to a large degree, I can see the Chinese instituting same or similar controls, not to mention an entire "industry" being developed as a positive side effect. Money to be made protecting your air, not to mention other positive and beneficial side effects.
Question is... why wait another day?

[jschm2681]

EPA has overreached abusing power in the US, suing people over stormwater runoff when they don't have jurusidiction according the the SCOTUS.Under Obama the run off suing and affecting productivity in the economy.
China however appears to need some minimum standards but you can be sure they won't let any standards interfere with their economy.

[Texasholdem100]

Gee all you CHINESE folks would rather burn coal, smoke cigarettes, drive gasoline and diesel cars without emission controls and DIE from SMOG.

Must be the Peoples Republic of China ways of limiting the population rise.

Wake up before its too late..

[john92021]

looks like over post pollution. U.S. cannot take the moral high ground on this one.

[jnostromo]

This is what happens when you don't regulate those who would pollute the environment...Funny, but the scene is China is exactly what American business would love to have....No regulations, cheap slave labor, huge profits...

[Texasholdem100]

Gee all you CHINESE folks would rather burn coal, smoke cigarettes, drive gasoline and diesel cars without emission controls and DIE from SMOG.

Must be the Peoples Republic of China ways of limiting the population rise.

Wake up before its too late..

[FredDstur]

You just had to be from Texas...wow.

[ksvarnay]

I am suprised to see that no one has commented on our own role as Americans in China's pollution crisis. I would challenge everyone to look at how dependent we have become on Chinese imports. It is ignorant of us not to admit that the factories which are producing all of these commodities which we have become so dependent on are not largely contributing to the problem.

[Texasholdem100]

Gee all you CHINESE folks would rather burn coal, smoke cigarettes, drive gasoline and diesel cars without emission controls and DIE from SMOG.

Must be the Peoples Republic of China ways of limiting the population rise.

Wake up before its too late..

[nohater]

think the winds carry china's pollution to other nation states. doesn't their pollution reach the underbelly of the state of texas when the winds are just right? seriously doubt china's pollution stays just in or over china. chinese, china, obviously don't care even for their own population.

[jtdev1]

Who needs the EPA. Look, they are just fine over there without it...


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