Gov. Think Tank Warns over Worsening Haze in Chinese Cities that Could Affect Fertility

More than a dozen provinces and municipalities in the eastern and central part of China have reported historically high levels of air pollution so far this year.

Chinese cities have been blanketed by a growing thick and sustained haze in the last 50 years, which experts say could trigger cancers and affect fertility, as well as economic damages, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) on Tuesday.

Chinese cities have reported increasingly more haze days since 1980s, especially in the more developed region in East China, the government think tank said.

In addition to increasing frequency, such days seem to have become more sustained, it added. Monitoring data showed that the number of haze days persisting at least three days had more than doubled in the period from 2001 to 2012, from that in 1961 to 2000.

More than a dozen provinces and municipalities in the eastern and central part of China, including Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong and Tianjin, have reported historically high levels of air pollution so far this year, according to the report. In some cities in the region, the number of haze days could vary from 25 to even 100 each year, it said.

The growing air pollution is largely a result of the country's rapid development and consequently a large increase in primary energy consumption, which is almost entirely produced by burning coals. Emissions from cooking and automobile exhaust are also part of the reasons, experts from the CSAA said.

The haze is made up of aerosols composed of solid and liquid particles of varying size, of which, the smaller particles smaller than 2.5 microns, or PM2.5, are more dangerous to health.

People exposed to hazes may develop chronic diseases, and respiratory and heart failures; such aerosols can also change lung functions and structure, affect fertility and transform the immune system, said the report.

More than 650,000 people die each year from diseases related to air pollution in China, according to the World Health Organization.

Air pollution has become a major concern in China in recent years. Chinese authorities began releasing measurements of PM2.5 data in January 2012, and ambitious plans have been carried out ever since in various cities although few of them seem to have worked so far.

Beijing said today it would cut vehicle quotas from next year to limit the number of vehicles on road in the capital city, as part of its broader efforts to reduce pollution. Authorities also launched occasional crackdowns on street kebab, and forced close down of some high-pollution factories.