China Shortens Report on Pollution Deaths

By Gregory Mone Posted 07.05.2007 at 12:29 pm 2 Comments

The Financial Times is reporting that the Chinese government edited down a World Bank study detailing the effects of pollution on the health of its people. The reasoning was that it could promote social unrest. Basically, they thought it might make some folks a little angry to learn why 750,000 people are dying prematurely each year. Gee, you think so?

According to the research group, as many as 400,000 people die annually from air pollution in cities, and 300,000 pass away from breathing bad air indoors. A draft version of the report is available here.—Gregory Mone

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2 Comments

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popsci

07/05/07 at 9:28 pm

Clap, clap, clap. Congratulations once again, China. My sister came back to the states with bronchitis-like symptoms after a year in Beijing. This is one of the many reasons I would not like to visit China. Because of the Olympics, potential travelers are not aware of all the dangers on top of this, such as unusually high level of traffic-related deaths, kidnappings, unsanitary tap water, and, my favorite, street fights.

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popsci

07/06/07 at 1:31 pm

disturbing....its like living in china is the new gas chamber of the 21st.....if you don't forget that the #1 polluter in the world is still the U.S. Gotta wonder how many american's die yearly from it's industrial filth.