The top three medical stories from China this week

Medical exam fraud: A medical examination cheating ring has been uncovered in Hebei after a 29 year old woman was found to be taking a postgraduate exam in place of someone else. The woman was arrested after it was found the ID card did not match the details of the doctor who was supposed to be taking the test, who was from Chengdu. The woman said she was paid 60,000 yuan (about US$9000) to take the test on behalf of another person. The woman, who was originally a doctor, said she had given up her job in 2013 after she discovered she could make more money through exam fraud.

Influenza deaths: There have been three severe cases including one death from severe H5N6 influenza in Guangdong and a further death of an overseas visitor from H1N1 influenza, according to media reports. Chinese media said that a a 25-year-old man from Shenzhen, was in a serious condition in hospital. A 26 year old woman died of the same infection in Shenzhen last week, while a third person in Zhaoqing, Guangdong was in a serious condition. Meanwhile a Guyanese man has died of H1N1 influenza in a Miami hospital after returning from China. The infections are presumed to have come from exposure to live poultry and it is not thought there is a high risk of human-to-human transmission.

Air pollution harms fetus: Pregnant women who are exposed to the high level of air pollution in China are likely to have low birth weight babies, a study shows. Exposure to high levels of PM2.5 particles, as found in China's smogs, was linked to a decrease in birth weight and an increased risk of low birth weight, according to a study by specialists at the Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, Guangzhou. The doctors said the effect of air pollution on fetal growth was similar to that seen with cigarette smoke, and was due to immature fetuses being more susceptible to air pollution because they are in critical periods of organogenesis.

China healthcare headlines - June 2015

Beijing to ban smoking in public place 

Smoking will be banned in public areas of Beijing such as restaurants, offices and on public transport from 1 June, but enforcement is in doubt. According to the new anti-smoking rules, smokers will face
fines of 200 yuan ($32.25) for smoking near hospitals and schools, while business can be fined up to 10,000 yuan ($1,600) for failing to enforce no-smoking areas.

Doctor killer executed

The man who stabbed a doctor to death at a Wenling hospital in a dispute over  surgery outcomes has been executed in Zhejiang. The man called Lian Enqing murdered an ENT specialist in October 2014 because he was upset about the poor results of surgery on his nose.

Air pollution triggers hospital admissions

Hospital admissions for respiratory problems increase dramatically when air pollution PM2.5 particle levels exceed a threshold of 200 µg/m³ according to researchers from Shandong.

Lian Enqing was sentenced to death last year for a fatal attack on an an ear, nose and throat specialist in Wenling, in the eastern province of Zhejiang. He attacked the doctor because he "felt displeased with his nose and claimed to be suffering respiratory problems", the official news agency Xinhua said - See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/east-asia/story/china-executes-patient-who-stabbed-doctor-death-over-nose-operation-report#sthash.mIPzSQ7W.dpuf

Lian Enqing was sentenced to death last year for a fatal attack on an an ear, nose and throat specialist in Wenling, in the eastern province of Zhejiang. He attacked the doctor because he "felt displeased with his nose and claimed to be suffering respiratory problems", the official news agency Xinhua said - See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/east-asia/story/china-executes-patient-who-stabbed-doctor-death-over-nose-operation-report#sthash.mIPzSQ7W.dpuf

Private hospitals blocked by public hospital chief

Despite being encouraged by central, the development of private hospitals is being blocked by the all powerful managers of major public hospitals, according to an article in Caixin. Analysts say that public hospitals are effectively operating as for-profit monopoly providers and they are loathe to give up their staff or patients to private newcomers.

Health minister's book published by Elsevier

Former health minister Chen Zhu is having a book publichsed by international medical publisher Elsevier. The book entitled Healthy China 2020: Strategic Research Report, is an in-depth review of China's past present and futre healthcare developments, with contributions frm many leading healthcare figures.

China's hospital league tables published

A league table of China's best hospitals, ranked by department, has been published by the China National Medical Information Center. The ranking tables put hospitals in the three major cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou at the top of most lists, according to criteria for 19 different specialities.

What does Beijing's air pollution do to your lungs?

by Michael Woodhead
Breathing the polluted air in Beijing has the same effect on the lungs as being a heavy smoker, a study carried out before and after the 2008 Olympic Games has shown.
Researchers from Peking University have shown that residents of Beijing have impaired lung function – but that their lungs can revert to normal during clean air periods such as during the Olympic Games, when air pollution was artificially curbed for a few weeks.
The findings come from a novel series of lung function tests done on 200 Beijing residents before, during and after the 2008 Olympics.
Dr Lina Mu of School of Public Health at the University at Buffalo, New York, carried out the research in conjunction with colleagues at the School of Public Health, Peking University,
They found that ordinarily in Beijing, the mean PM2.5 (83 µg/m3) is more than three times higher than the WHO׳s safe limit of 25 µg/m3. At the same time, lung function of Beijing residents (as measured by peak expiratory flow or PEF) was well below the normal range for healthy lungs.  Lung function was impaired by 16-40% for men (PEF of 418 vs a healthy range of 500-700 L/min) and by 23-42% (PEF of 292 vs a norm of 380–500 L/min) for women.
During the Olympic Games the closure of factories and curbs on use of vehicles resulted in air pollution levels falling and particulate matter levels were reduced up to 60%. During this brief ‘clean air’ window lung function was observed to increase by 17% in females and 13% in males, “suggesting an improved airway status after 40 days of lowered exposure to air pollution.” The researchers said.
Interestingly, lung function improved more in non-smokers than smokers and in younger, female residents compared to male and older Beijing residents.
The clean air period in Beijing also saw a reduction in the number of Beijingers with rapid breathing (more than 20 breaths per minute) – a typical response to pollution and impaired lung function.
Lung function deteriorated back to unhealthy levels after the Olympics when factories were re-opened and pollution levels returned to their usual levels.
The researchers said their findings confirmed the adverse effect of particulate matter in the atmosphere on lung function.
“Deposition of particulate matter induces increased oxidative stress that not only results in DNA, lipid and protein damage, but also leads to the inflammatory responses,” they noted.
They said the pollution curbs implemented by the Chinese government during the 2008 Olympics had created conditions for a natural experiment that showed the impact of air pollution on Beijingers’ lung health.
They said the findings confirmed the adverse effects on lung health but showed that these cold be reversed – at least in some sections of the population. However, they also noted that long term exposure to air pollution in Beijing was likely to have more severe ongoing effects on lung health.
The study is published in Environmental Research.

Smoking deprivation | Suicidal ideation in school students | Obesity surgery | Oestrogen in the environment

About 7% of Chinese people smoke so much their spending on cigarettes deprives the household of essential items like food, a study from Beijing has found. Low-income smokers were more likely to have smoking-induced deprivation.

Suicidal ideation occurs in one in three Chinese high school girls and 20% of boys, a study of 5249 students in Anhui Province of China has found.

Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy are safe and effective for the treatment of morbid obesity, resulting in 63% and 76% loss of excess weight, a study from Nankai Hospital of Tianjin Medical University has shown.

The waist circumference cut off for high risk of central obesity and metabolic syndrome is 85 cm for women and 90 cm for men, researchers from Shandong have shown.

In Shanghai, almost one-in-five boys are obese and 8% of girls are obese. The prevalence of combined overweight and obesity is 49% for boys and 31% for girls aged 8-15-years, according to a study that found rates of obesity started to increase from age 10 years.

Oestrogen hormones are widely used in animal rearing in China and this leads to high levels of the hormones in excreted manure which is then used on crops, perpetuating the environmental contamination and human exposure, researchers from the State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Beijing have shown.

The highly pathogenic strain of H7N9 avian influenza is quite different from other H7N9 strains seen in China and appears to have come about by re-assortment with the H9N2 strain, according to researchers from the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Infliximab is safe and effective in Chinese patients with ulcerative colitis, resulting in 85% response rates and 62% remission rates after 30 weeks of treatment. However, relapse rates are high, say researchers from the Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou.

6 clinical stories from China

1. Abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs is  common among Chinese high school students, a study from Guangzhou has shown. The survey of more than 20,000 students found that more than one in twenty had abused medical drugs at some time. The most common drugs of abuse were analgesics (4%), followed by cough syrups with codeine (2%) and valium or tramadol (1%). Peer pressure was one of the major influences in illicit use of prescription and OTC drugs, and it was also more common in children who already smoked, according to researcher Dr Wang Hui of the Guangzhou Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, writing in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependance.


2. The agricultural practice of burning straw is a major overlooked contributor to smog and air pollution in Chinese cities, say respiratory physicians from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital. Burning straw caused PM2.5 levels to reach 194 μg/m3 in Nanjing, which far exceeded the daily average maximum allowable concentration of 75 μg/m3, they note in the American Journal of Infection Control. The pollution is linked to respiratory illness and infections such as pneumonia, they say, and thus needs to be regulated.

3. China has a north-south divide when it comes to hypertension in children, a new review has found. shows. Children and adolescents in the north China have hypertension rates of  18% (Beijing) or 23% (Shandong) whereas those in South of China including Shanghai and Changsha have hypertension rates ranging from 3% to 11%, according to researchers from School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan. The higher prevalence of hypertension in the north might be due to higher dietary salt intake they say in the International Journal of Cardiology. 

4. The inherited condition of highly-elevated cholesterol levels, familial hypercholesterolaemia, occurs in about one in 200 Chinese people but is rarely detected, a study from Jiangsu suggests. In a study of more than 9000 people they found that about 0.5% had the condition, which confers a very high risk of cardiovascular disease and early death. They suggest that screening to aid detection and family tracing is carried out by hospital cardiology departments.

5. Gastric cancers account for a fifth of all cancer deaths in China and are especially common in younger women, a study from Guangzhou has found. The review of more than 2000 cases of gastric cancer found that the malignancy was common in older men but was also frequently seen in women under the age of 40.  Most patients had advanced stage disease at diagnosis, suggesting that better detection and treatment of early gastric cancer  is needed.

6. Chinese children are at risk from inappropriate prescribing of medicines, say paediatricians in a letter to The Lancet this week. Dr Tang Wenchu and colleagues from the First People's Hospital of Huzhou University Medical College, Zhejiang, say about a third of medicines taken by children are indiscriminately prescribed, and children are also at risk because there are few paediatric formulations of medication in China. The lack of a national adverse drug reaction surveillance system also means that children may have side effects that are not acted on, they say.

Seven China medical news snippets for Thursday 13 March

1. Antivirals at kindergarten
Children at a kindergarten in Xian have been treated with an antiviral without the knowledge of their parents. Parents were furious to discover their children were dosed with moroxydine thee days a week supposedly as prophylaxis to prevent viral infections, at the direction of a doctor who was only licensed to practice in Guangdong.

2. Private health eyes China profits
Private healthcare operator Concord Medical says it sees huge potential in the Chinese health system reforms. The group already owns 144 medical centres and the Chang'an Hospital in Xi'an, and is now building three high-end specialty cancer hospitals in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai.

3. Stroke risk with high normal BP
Cardiologists in Guangzhou have shown that pre-hypertension (systolic BP of 120-140mmHg) is a risk factor for stroke. Their research showed that low range hypertension increased stroke risk by 44%, according to the meta-analysis published in the journal Neurology this week.

4. Needlestick risks in Chinese hospitals
Doctors and nurses in Chinese hospitals face high risks of blood-borne infections because of poor needlestick injury prevention practices, a study has found. Doctors faced a high risk of infections from suturing needle accidents while nurses often had needlestick injuries with syringes and IV infusion sets,w ith an average of two injuries per year, a study in the American Journal of Infection Control showed.

5. Medical article fraud
A doctor in Hainan has been jailed for eight years for fraud after it was discovered he wrote 11 medical articles and dissertations for others. The doctor charged about 12,000 yuan for each article.

6. Knee OA undiagnosed
Knee osteoarthritis is common among elderly people in Guangzhou but often goes undiagnosed and untreated. A study of elderly inpatients at a city hospital found the prevalence rate of knee arthritis was 10% in males and 38% in females. Only about half of patients were aware they had arthritis, and among these only 77% had adequate treatment.

7. Dust full of carcinogens
Inhabitants of Guangzhou are exposed to toxic levels of arsenic and chromium in PM2.5 particle in dust, a study has found. Using hair analysis, researchers from Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou found that Guangzhou residents had high and carcinogenic levels of accumulated metals and other toxic elements.

Beijing respiratory wards overflow with smog-related illness

by Michael Woodhead
The heavy smog that has hung over Beijing for days has seen many patients turn up at the city's hospitals with respiratory complaints. The Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital was overflowing with patents on infusions yesterday and respiratory specialists said the worst was yet to come. The infusion room, where patients are given IV infusions was 100% full and there was an overflow 'ward' in the outside corridor where camp beds had been set up to cater for the extra patients and their families. Doctors said most of the patients had conditions such as pneumonia. The director of respiratory medicine at the hospital, Dr Lin Jiangtao said he expected the problem to worsen over the next week as the adverse effects of the smog tended to be delayed. The patients most affected were those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and heart disease, he said. The accumulation of pollution particles in the lungs tended to cause bronchoconstriction and chest tightness and other breathing difficulties, he said. The exact mechanism was not clear but China was now starting studies to investigate this process, he said.
Authorities in China said this week that one seventh of the country was covered in the thick smog and it was expected to last for about five days.

China medical news headlines for Monday 27th January

Premier pledges social security system
In his first press conference as premier, Li Keqiang affirmed the Chinese government's commitment to building a social security system safety net that will include provision of medical care. According to China Daily, the premier said the government should "weave a network that guarantees the basic living of all the people", covering education, medical care, social insurance and housing.

Blood donations dry up at New Year
China is facing severe shortages in blood donations as the usual donors - students - return home for Chinese New Year. Nanning's blood donation centre now has only 300 donors a day but the city needs 4-500 to meet hospital demand, according to CRI. Cold winter weather also deters people from going to blood donation centers or donation buses, health authorities say.

Whistleblower doctor gets her job back
Mianyang's 'corridor doctor' whistleblower who lost her job after complaining about hospital overservicing will be offered her job back after an inquiry, authorities in Sichuan say, according to Global Times. Lan Yuefeng worked in a corridor for two years after protesting about her hospital offering unnecessary treatments and profiteering.

Laowai not using medical cards
Foreigners who work in China now receive social security cards that allow them to access subsidised medical treatment in the same way as Chinese citizens, according to China Daily. However many foreigners are unsure of their entitlements and do not use them, a professor says.

Social security shortfall
New social security laws compel local authorities to provide financial assistance to the needy including those with severe medical conditions and local officials  face legal action if they refuse to provide it, according to the Beijing Review. However,  local authorities say they do not have the personnel to check every single claim for validity.

Outdoor workers get pollution clinics
Shanghai has set up special drop-in medical centres for outdoor workers who are suffering from the effects of air pollution, according to ECNS. The city authorities have also provided 300 medical cards for outdoor workers because of their high risk of pollution-related ailments.

Leaders call for action on H7N9 response
The Chinese vice premier Liu Yandong has called on all local authorities across China to take action to prevent the spread of H7N9 influenza. Local health departments will face punishment if they do not take action on epidemic surveillance and outbreak response plans in areas such as health institutions and schools. Poultry markets in Beijing have not tested positive for H7N9 influenza virus, according to the Shanghai Daily. However Shanghai has now experienced its eighth case of H7N9 avian influenza of the year, the paper reports.

Three medical stories from Chinese language media

Chengdu doctors out of pocket as fundraiser fails to deliver 

Chengdu neurosurgeons are out of pocket to the tune of 60,000 RMB  after they operated on a seriously ill boy whose parents turned to fundraisers to pay the medical bills. The surgeons at the Chengdu Military District Hospital performed an urgent operation on a 9-tear old boy who had inflammation of the cerebral cortex. His parents did not have enough money to pay for the medical bills and they turned to a volunteer fundraiser to help solicit donations. However, at the end of the year the hospital is trying to balance its accounts and has yet to see the funds for the operation. According to the hospital rules, unpaid bills are the responsibility of the doctors who provided the treatment. When contacted by the West China News, the fundraiser Chen Mei said she was  waiting for the paperwork to be done so she could process the donations and provide the funds to the doctors.

Girl in Sichuan has duplicate organs

The People's Daily reports the case of a 13-year old girl who has a congenital disorder that has given her double the number of organs of a normal person. The Guangzhou girl called "Tian Tian" was born with four kidneys, two bladders, two uteruses and four Fallopian tubes. The girl had some fusion surgery when she was an infant but now her kidneys are causing her problems. The excessive organs mean that she has to urinate twenty times a day and she has frequent urethral infections. According to the newspaper report, the girl and her parents have now gone to Chengdu to track down the doctors who did the original operations to ask them to amalgamate the kidney
Her treating doctor Hu Xianliang said the operation would not remove the kidneys but would seek to normalise their function. He said Tian Tian was likely the first such case in the world and was caused by abnormal development of a twin ovum.

 Chinese children can't exercise in smog

A report in the Guangming Daily looks at the warnings from health experts to parents about not letting their children exercise in smoggy conditions. The report quotes a child health expert from the Sports Ministry saying that children should continue to do physical exercise during smoggy periods of bad air pollution but should exercise indoors and avoid heavy aerobic exercise. The long term health risks of inhaling high amounts of pollution during days of heavy pollution should be weighed against the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, the article says.
Other sports medicine experts have even produced  a manual that shows the best indoor programs for sports and activities for children to do when the weather is smoggy.

Another study shows Beijing's air is bad for heart health

The thick smogs that blanket Beijing and other Chinese cities have been thought to have adverse effects on respiratory health, but now a study shows they also do terrible things to the cardiovascular system.
Doctors from Peking Union Medical College have found there is a strong association between combustion-related air pollution and blood pressure. During  2012 they monitored pollution levels and personal levels of "black carbon" on five consecutive days in patients with metabolic syndrome in Beijing.
In a paper in the journal Hypertension, they report that exposure to high levels of black carbon was associated significantly with adverse cardiovascular responses. A one unit increase in personal black carbon during the previous 10 hours was associated with an increase in systolic blood pressure of 0.53 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure of 0.37 mm Hg. They also found that carbon had adverse effects on autonomic function. "These findings highlight the public health effect of air pollution and the importance of reducing air pollution.

Wuhan pollution causing cancer in children, says oncologist

by Michael Woodhead
The increasingly severe pollution and smog in Wuhan is having "terrible consequences" for  the health of local people, a cancer specialist has to the Wuhan political consultative conference.
Dr Liu Li of the Xiehe Hospital Cancer Centre told the Wuhan conference that cancer rates in the city had increased in the last 10 years and tumours were now being seen at a much younger age.
Dr Liu said the number of beds at the hospitals cancer centre has doubled to more than 1000 in the last decade, but they were still at 100% occupancy. He said the incidence and mortality of cancer in Wuhan were without precedent, and it was shocking to see infants presenting with tumours.
To see an infant needing chemotherapy can only make you cry" he told the conference.
Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer we see and the contributory factors are complex, but air pollutio is no doubt theimportant  'assasin'," he said.
According to the Hubei Daily, Dr Liu called on environmental protection department to take urgent action to address the smog problem. One example is the common practice of burning rubbish, he said, which causes large amounts of ash and hazardous particles to be released into the air.
"Air pollution is now a critical threat to population health in Wuhan, he said.

Medical news in China's media

HIV is one of several conditions newly listed as occupational diseases for police and  medical workers, meaning that those who develop the illness will be eligible for work-related injury insurance reimbursement. Other new conditions covered are leukasmus, blast exposure hearing damage, and ocular burns (such as to the cornea, lens of the eye or retina) caused by laser light and frostbite, according to Women of China.

The city of Lanzhou in Gansu has adopted tough new anti-smoking measures in public places. New legislation specifies "non-smoking" indoor areas, including medical institutions, schools, government office buildings, public dining places, and public transport carriers. Smokers, face fines from 50 to 200 yuan, according to the Peoples Daily.

Police in Henan broke up a fake medicine production ring that placed fake-drug ads on the radio and the internet and used bogus medical experts to talk with patients.According to CRI the fake drug operation had earned the fraudsters 300 million yuan

And in the China Daily, psychiatrists are reported to be looking at links between China's terrible smog problems and mental health. Clinicians say studies are needed on the negative impact of smoggy days on anxiety and depression due to lack of sunlight and production of the hormone melatonin.

PM2.5 causes cardiopulmonary harm: expert

Chinese pulmonologist Zhong Nanshan said on Saturday that PM2.5 not only increases the risk of lung cancer, but also can cause overall damage to the human heart and lung, the Guangzhou-based New Express reported.
Zhong said research on the relationship between PM2.5 and lung cancer has been done for dozens of years in Western countries, and results show lung cancer deaths would increase by 17 to 25 percent for each 10μg per cubic meter rise in the concentration of PM2.5.
A research report issued by the World Health Organization on Nov 17 said smog may cause bladder cancer as well, and current studies in China have found that particulate matters can enter the bloodstream and cause damage to the heart and lung, Zhong added.
However, China hasn't conducted any long-term research on smog's influence on human health. PM2.5 concentration in China is five times, or even 10 times, higher than in foreign countries' studies, Zhong said. "I would like to lead the research."

Quarter of a million premature deaths in China due to coal

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.

Infant health improves after coal power station shuts down

The closure of a polluting coal-fired power plant in Tongliang, Sichuan, resulted in a marked improvement in the health of local babies, researchers have reported.  
The power station was the major pollution source until its shutdown in 2004. Researchers from Chongqing Medical University measured prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other pollutants before and after the closure and found that reduced levels were associated with improvements in birth outcomes, neurodevelopment and early childhood growth rates.
“The findings of this study are encouraging in that direct governmental interventions to remove a polluting coal-burning source can have rapid and direct benefits to children's health. This in turn is a strong motivation for China to further invest in renewable and energy- efficient fuels, a necessity for its future.
Full study: Environmental Pollution

Air pollution increases respiratory diseases in Lanzhou

A study from Gansu has shown a strong link between air pollutants and respiratory hospital admissions, especially in older women.

The study carried out by the College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, looked at level of air pollution and respiratory hospitalisations from 2001 to 2005, It found that three measures of air pollutants (PM10, SO2, NO2) had a lag effect of up to five days. The strongest effects of pollution on respiratory hospital admissions were seen in females and those aged over 65 yrs.
Full study: Environmental Pollution

Beijing to monitor health effects of smog

Beijing will start monitoring the effect of smog on residents' health this week, said the city's health bureau in its Sina micro blog account on Monday.

The city's center for disease control and prevention will set up monitoring stations in 11 communities to monitor air quality, and will dispatch professionals to test air samples on a regular basis.

Also, the city's authorities will collect data from hospital medical records to determine the relationship between the smog and the health of residents.

In October, the National Health and Family Planning Commission asked health authorities in 16 provinces or municipalities, including Beijing, to monitor and report the density of PM2.5 and its impact on health.

Source: China Daily

Researcher rejects “air pollution causes black lung" story as urban myth

by Michael Woodhead

Health experts have dismissed online rumours that the recent spate of air pollution in China may cause lungs to turn irreversibly black within six days.

The claims have been made on microblogging sites and state that a Fudan University study in animals had shown that exposure to a week of high levels of small PM2.5 particles could turn the lungs black. The story was said to originate from a study by  Fudan University Professor Song Weimin .The story also claims that the black lung changes are irreversible without expensive and time-consuming medical treatment

According to the claims, which were forwarded by thousands of microblog site users, the academic study in rats found that the irreversible ‘black lung’ syndrome was mediated by release of inflammatory cytokines.

However, Fudan University School of Public Health Professor Song Weimin told news reporters that he had never done any rat inhalation experiments leading to black lung.

He said his study had actually collected PM2.5 on a filter and then these had been applied artificially to rat lungs in vitro.

He said the test conditions represented PM2.5 concentrations that were thousands of times higher than those experienced in the real world. He said his study did not show that the particle turned lung tissue black, nor were the changes seen irreversible.

"The argument that ‘haze for six days turn fresh lung black’ is not correct,” he said.

Source: China Medical Tribune

Antibiotics found in the Yellow Sea

Significant levels of the antibiotics erythromycin, sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim have been found in the offshore waters of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. Researchers from the State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences say that although the concentrations were low, they nevertheless posed ecological risks  to some sensitive aquatic organisms, including Synechococcus leopoliensis and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata.
Source: Environmental Pollution

PM2.5 pollution from coal burning kills 9000 a year and costs $1 billion

Report shows the high health costs of fine particle pollution in four Chinese cities

An estimated 8,572 premature deaths occurred in four major Chinese cities in 2012, due to high levels of PM2.5 pollution, a joint study by Greenpeace East Asia and Peking University’s School of Public Health has concluded.
The report also estimates PM2.5 pollution caused the cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi’an and Beijing to suffer a combined total of US$1.08 billion in economic losses over the past year. Greenpeace is calling for an urgent policy adjustment, including capping regional coal consumption, De-NOx retrofiting for existing coal-fired power plants, and shutting down inefficient coal-fired industrial boilers.
The report “PM2.5: Measuring the human health and economic impacts on China's largest cities” states that if these cities can effectively lower their PM2.5 levels to meet the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Guidelines (WHO AQG), such deaths would be reduced by at least 81%, and the economic losses for these four cities could be reduced by $US868 million. Unfortunately no cities currently have a timeline to meet WHO AQG.
“PM2.5 is putting public health at high risk every day, but worse still, if we follow the current official plans we would need to wait 20 years to get to the national standard, which is still risky compared to the WHO guidelines,” said Greenpeace campaigner Zhou Rong. “Who can afford the wait?” Greenpeace is calling for a concrete and ambitious timetable to tackle PM2.5 pollution, thus improving the air quality to reach the health standard set out by WHO AQG.
For the report, researchers from Greenpeace and Peking University’s School of Public Health studied the impact of PM2.5 in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi’an, which represented major urban centres in China’s north, east, south and west respectively.
“Besides saving a lot of human lives, combating PM2.5 can also significantly reduce the national cost on health care,” said Zhou Rong. Taking Beijing as an example, the report found the Chinese capital experienced a loss of US$328 million in 2012 because of PM2.5 pollution. But had it reached WHO AQG, US$283 million could have been saved. (For details please refer to the media briefing paper section three).
Recent statistics from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) show cities in China’s Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region suffered over 100 hazy days a year with PM2.5 concentration two to four times above World Health Organization guidelines. The effects of PM2.5-related air pollution extend beyond hazy days, also leading to systematic damage to human health.
PM2.5 is small in particle size but as pollution can reach a large surface area. It is more prone to carrying a variety of toxic heavy metals, acid oxides, organic pollutants and other chemicals, as well as microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses in the air. When inhaled, it can enter a person’s blood stream. Exposure to PM2.5 can contribute to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as greater cancer risks, all leading to a significantly higher mortality rate.
Studies have shown PM2.5 is most prevalant in the combustion of coal. Since the majority of China’s energy comes from coal plants, Greenpeace is urging regional governments to cap coal consumption.
Greenpeace is also calling on the local governments in key regions to go beyond requirements raised by recent MEP plans, and to take ambitious steps to set up specific air quality improvement plans, including detailed PM2.5 pollution reduction timelines.
Source: Greenpeace