Emissions from coal plants in China were responsible for a quarter of a million premature deaths in 2011 and are damaging the health of hundreds of thousands of Chinese children, according to a new study.
The study by a US air pollution expert, commissioned by Greenpeace, comes as many areas in northern and eastern China have been experiencing hazardous levels of air pollution in recent weeks.
In some eastern cities including Shanghai, levels were off the index that tracks dangerous pollution, with schools closing and flights being cancelled or diverted. Sales of air purifiers and face masks have soared with many retailers selling out of stock as residents try to protect themselves from the poisonous smog. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces visibility was reduced to less than 50 metres earlier this week and in the city of Nanjing a red alert for pollution was maintained for five consecutive days.
The analysis traced the chemicals which are made airborne from burning coal and found a number of health damages were caused as a result. It estimates that coal burning in China was responsible for reducing the lives of 260,000 people in 2011. It also found that in the same year it led to 320,000 children and 61,000 adults suffering from asthma, 36,000 babies being born with low weight and was responsible for 340,000 hospital visits and 141 million days of sick leave.
"This study provides an unprecedentedly detailed picture of the health fallout from China's coal burning," said Dr Andrew Gray, a US-based expert on air pollution, who conducted the research. Using computer simulations, Gray said he was able to "draw a clear map tracing the trail of health damages left by the coal fumes released by every power plant in China, untangling the contribution of individual companies, provinces and power stations to the air pollution crisis gripping the country."
China's air pollution problems frequently make headlines around the world.
Isabel Hilton, editor of China Dialogue, an independent website that publishes information and debate on the environment in China, said coal is the main cause of the country's air pollution problems. Coal burning in China "produces heavy metal pollution and produces particulate pollution on a scale that is getting quite extraordinary," she said.
China is the world's largest consumer of coal, which is its main energysource, and is responsible for around half the world's coal consumption. The impacts of its reliance on coal are becoming more well known and recently there was much online discussion after an eight-year-old girl was diagnosed with lung cancer which her doctor blamed on air pollution.
According to Gray's study, while the growth of coal consumption has slowed, 570 new coal-fired plants are either being built or are planned, and if they go ahead would be responsible for a further 32,000 premature deaths each year.
In September, the Chinese government announced a plan to tackle the high levels of air pollution including for the first time measures to cut coal consumption. Under the plan, China aims to cut air pollution in some of the worst affected areas including Beijing by 2017.
Hilton said that the reductions in the plan would not be enough to make a difference within a short time frame. "It is going to be difficult to make a difference very shortly. Much more radical things will have to happen," she said.
"The government has been forced into much greater transparency on the data," she added. "But I do think the ambition has to be raised quite a lot."
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根据一项新的研究，中国燃煤电厂排放的气体导致了2011年25万人过早死亡的结果，并且损害着几十万中国儿童的健康。
这项研究是由一名受绿色和平组织委任的美国空气污染研究专家进行的。正好近几周，中国北部和东部的许多地区一直遭受着严重级别的空气污染。
包括上海在内的一些东部城市中，污染等级超出了探测污染严重级别的指数，导致学校停课，航班取消或改变航道。空气净化器和面具的销售量一路飙升，许多零售商都卖出了已有的存货，因为市民们想保护自己，免受有毒烟雾的侵害。在江苏省和浙江省，这周刚开始能见度就降到不足50米。在南京市，连续五天都持续着空气污染红色预警。
该分析中还追查了由燃煤而产生的空中飘浮化学物质，并且发现这些化学物质会导致许多损害健康的结果。据估计，2011年中国的燃煤导致26万人减寿。并且在同一年，发现该污染还使32万儿童和6.1万成人遭受哮喘病的痛苦，3.6万体重过轻的婴儿出生。还导致了34万次的病房探病和1.41亿天的病假。
安德鲁•格雷博士（Dr Andrew Gray）是美国研究空气污染的专家，并且进行了这次的研究。他说：“这项研究就中国燃煤对人体健康带来负面影响的问题提供了一个前所未有的详细概况。”通过电脑模拟，格雷说他可以“画出一个清晰的地图，追踪探索中国每一个发电厂排放的煤烟所导致的损害健康的痕迹，弄清个体公司、省市还有发电厂各自导致空气污染的程度，毕竟这次污染危机是关乎整个国家的命运。”
中国的空气污染问题频繁地登上各国的头版头条。
《中外对话》（China Dialogue）是一个讨论中国环境问题及提供其资讯的独立网站。它的编辑伊莎贝尔•希尔顿（Isabel Hilton）说，煤炭是国家空气污染问题的主要原因。她还说中国的燃煤“导致重金属污染和粉尘污染，其规模相当惊人。”
中国是世界最大的煤炭消耗国，煤炭是中国最主要的能源，也将近占据世界煤炭总消耗量的一半。中国对煤炭依赖的负面影响越来越被人们所熟知。最近，有个八岁的小女孩被诊断为肺癌，医生说是空气污染所致，这一事件引起了网上热烈的讨论。
根据格雷的研究，虽然煤炭消耗量的增长速度下降了，但570个新燃煤电厂正处在建设或规划中。所以，如果继续下去，燃煤电厂的排放会导致每年增加3.2万过早死亡的人。
九月，公布了一项计划来控制严重的空气污染，包括首次公布削减煤炭使用量的措施。根据计划，中国旨在2017年前消除污染最严重地区的空气污染，包括北京。
希尔顿说该计划中的削减措施不会在短期内见效。她说：“在很短的时间内改变现状非常困难。要有更多彻底的，根治性的措施。”
她还强调：“政府被迫在数据上提高了透明度，但我认为这种决心应该再大一点才行。”