Air in many China cities remains highly polluted

Shanghai Daily reports:

Nearly 40 percent of major Chinese cities, including the capital of Beijing, had air pollution exceeding the country's official limits during the first six months this year, according to a wide-ranging environmental report from the state environmental watchdog.

Shanghai's air quality reached the national "fair quality" standard but the results were not comforting. The report showed that inhalable particulates measuring less than 10 microns in diameter, a benchmark airborne pollution indicator, rose by 25 percent in Shanghai during the first half of this year from a year earlier.

The fine particles are small enough to lodge in people's lungs, causing great health risks. The other major air pollutant indicators - sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, components in acid rain - increased about 17 and 16 percent, respectively, in Shanghai, the report said.

Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nsp/National/2011/11/08/Air%2Bin%2Bmany%2BChina%2Bcities%2Bremains%2Bhighly%2Bpolluted/