Smog in Pearl River Delta 'worse than in Beijing'

Pollutants in the Pearl River Delta are more dangerous than those choking the capital because they contain higher levels of hazardous nitrogenous organic compounds, an expert said yesterday.

Wu Dui, an expert in dust haze and researcher at the China Academy of Meteorological Sciences, said health-threatening PM2.5 particles in the delta region contained more nitrogenous organic compounds than in central and eastern parts of China and the Yangtze River Delta.

The volatile organic compounds were mainly emitted during the manufacture of shoes and cosmetics and were the main components of photochemical smog.

Wu said the problem was identified a decade ago but had been given scant attention.

His claim came as a British study concluded that exposure to higher levels of fine particulates - the airborne pollution that plagues many Asian cities including Beijing and Hong Kong - causes a sharp rise in deaths from heart attacks.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine established a clear link between exposure to PM2.5 pollutants and early death after following 154,000 patients in England and Wales who had been taken to hospital with heart attacks between 2004 and 2007.