China's Pollution "Like Being in a Nuclear Winter"

The pollution created by Communist China’s unrestrained development frenzy is so dire that it has been likened to a nuclear winter. Not only does Beijing’s air quality regularly rise to 20 times higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) maximum safe level, but “the smog is even affecting China’s plants, preventing them from successfully photosynthesizing, which in turn threatens the population's food supply. ... He Dongxian, an associate professor at China Agricultural University's College of Water Resources and Engineering, notes that these kinds of conditions are ‘similar to a nuclear winter’” (“Scientists: Beijing’s Air Pollution,” Gizmodo..com, Feb. 26, 2014). The smog is so bad that luxury hotels are providing guests with gas masks. Redditor Mthomaseddy posted a picture “of an elegantly packaged gas mask, which was in his room when he arrived at the Shanghai Fairmont. It is, apparently, an air-filter mask, rather than something to use in gas attacks” (“China’s Smog Is So Bad,” Gizmodo.com, Jan. 10, 2014). The World Health Organization reports that pollution-related sickness kills 656,000 Chinese citizens annually. The Chinese government claims to be fighting the pollution problem, but in the meantime it says that the smog is good for national defense, providing cover for military operations (“Chinese Hospital Opens ‘Smog Clinic,” Gizmodo.com, Dec. 18, 2013).

(Friday Church News Notes, April 25, 2014, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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