Individuals are Threatened by China's Increasing Air Pollution

Patrick and Mahoney-Norris discuss health security and environmental threats around the world. Their focus is around disease and climate change, but today I want to talk about pollution and its effect on respiratory health and death in China.  This might sound a bit like last week's topics, specifically the trash problem in Italy. However, this differs because the pollution in China is generated from vehicle and factory emissions unlike the fumes from improper trash dumping in Italy. Furthermore, because the trash problem in Italy is stemming from the involvement of the Italian mafia it threatens both national security and individual security, where the pollution in China is a human security issue alone.

My sources for this entry derive from the New York Times and The Economist, and were all written in 2013. In China, Breathing Becomes a Childhood Risk, displays the increasing concerns parents have for their children both born and in the womb as levels of pollutants are up to 40 times the recommended exposure in Beijing. The article includes multiple studies' results that show air pollution to be linked to a multitude of problems, including: lung damage, anxiety, depression, attention span problems, autism, smaller head circumferences, and slower growth. These problems can occur both from direct inhalation of pollution and also by exposure of pregnant women. An alarming statistic by the Deustche Bank is provided stating "the current trends of coal use and automobile emissions...expect air pollution to worsen by an additional 70% by 2025."

Air Pollution Linked to 1.2 Million Premature Deaths in China, is informative and shocking in its title alone. China's deaths by pollution are 40% of the world's total, however the countries population make this slightly overblown. This article repeats much of the latter but does touch on a report that believes air pollution will be a bigger problem than dirty water and lack of sanitation by 2050 worldwide. This was striking to me when you think about the videos we have watched in this class, such as the cholera epidemic in Haiti and the unsanitary hospitals in Somalia.

Lastly, I looked at Something in the Air, which brought me in with the picture, posted above. That picture was taken in February of this year in Beijing. It demonstrates the abnormal and beyond index pollution that was hitting the streets that month. I learned that even in the absence of such spikes, "air quality in China routinely fails to meet basic standards laid down by the World Health Organization". This Economist article also believes the pollution to be extremely concerning for the health of China's civilians with tens of thousands dying each year because of foul air. This increase is linked to China's motivation and huge push in industrialization and growth, and unfortunately, this has come with the expense of mortality and lung cancer. Authorities are in the process of improving air quality, and have taken steps in improving factory emissions and converting heating systems from coal to gas.

I hope the government is willing and capable to take greater steps to help its citizens before it is too late.