Choking China

As thick smog envelopes China's northeast, we ask whether the government is acting fast enough to contain the crisis.

China's northeastern Heilongjiang province is experiencing heavy pollution-induced smog with schools forced to suspend classes and the Harbin city's airport shut for air traffic. Other parts in that region have also experienced severe smog, including Tangshan, two hours east of Beijing, and Changchun, the capital of Jilin province which borders Heilongjiang. The air quality index showed levels of 1,000 in some parts of Harbin, where some 11 million people live. A level above 300 is considered hazardous, while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily level of no more than 20. Levels as high as in some parts of Harbin are primarily responsible for causing lung cancer and asthma. And many believe the air pollution has cut life expectancy by an average of five-and-a-half years in the north. ""The WHO currently recommends a peak exposure limits up to 50 which is one-tenth of what has been measured in Harbin.... There is really a long way to go to reduce that [level] .... If we reduce that level by 20 percent you are still at 400 [air quality index] …. We also looked at all the latest studies that point towards the increased risk of lung cancer at levels even well below the current guidelines standards for exposure," explains Kurt Straif, the head of monographs at the cancer research unit for the World Health Organisation.