A quarter of China’s children at risk from polluted indoor air at home, survey finds
Ministry’s assessment of youngsters’ risks from environment points to indoor pollutants, from cooking and heating, as one of worst problems
China’s environment ministry has released its first survey on the exposure of the country’s infants and adolescents to environmental risks, showing how seriously children are threatened by indoor air pollution, unsafe drinking water and hazardous emissions from factories and vehicles.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection conducted its first nationwide survey on children’s pollution exposure patterns from 2013 to 2014, interviewing 75,519 children and teenagers up to the age of 17 in 30 provinces, it said in a statement on its official website.
The impact of pollution on public health is not only decided by the pollutants’ concentration levels and toxicity, but also closely related to the exposure patterns
“The impact of pollution on public health is not only decided by the pollutants’ concentration levels and toxicity, but also closely related to the exposure patterns,” ministry official Zou Shoumin said in a statement that explained why the ministry wanted to conduct the study.
Official studies on the link between pollution and health have been limited in both number and scope in China, despite soaring cancer rates amid rampant water, air and soil pollution from factories and agricultural production.
The survey found Chinese children faced “dual risks”, from both traditional and modern environmental and health risks.
It showed that 26.8 per cent of respondents were exposed to indoor air pollution from cooking and heating through the burning of solid biomass, and that 12.7 per cent did not have access to drinking water that had been properly treated.