Beijing is facing a new peak in air pollution, with record levels of fine particles. The phenomenon and its health consequences worry the authorities.
In Beijing, the air is so polluted that vehicles have to turn on their headlights during the day. A toxic cloud, loaded with particles, engulfed the Chinese capital on Saturday. Since then, visibility has been zero a few meters; each took out his protective mask.
A precaution that may seem laughable, given the levels of pollution recorded. According to a statement from the US Embassy, the density of fine particles in the air has reached the threshold of 568 micrograms per cubic meter – more than twenty times the ceiling set by the WHO.
Another survey in Beijing, carried out by a Chinese station, reports an even worse level, reaching 631 micrograms per cubic meter. Much of the north of the country is also affected by this peak in air pollution.
In China, this situation, far from being unprecedented, has a name: it is the “airpocalypse”. It is due, according to experts, to gas emissions from cars and dust from the many construction sites in the city. In an attempt to get its population out of the fog, the government announced the ban on new construction sites from March in several areas (oil, steel, cement, thermal power plant).
The authorities, ready to relocate factories
In fact, faced with this phenomenon with disastrous health consequences, the authorities and local actors are starting to get active. Last November, a public health forum was held in Beijing, organized by the Foundation of the Academy of Medicine and the “Chinese Medical Association”. One of the themes of the program focused specifically on the links between health and the environment.
“I was keen to raise environmental issues here in China, but to my surprise, I was very well received,” explains Jean-Marie Dru, president of the Foundation. Academy of Medicine, which drafted the forum program with the Chinese Medical Association and its president and former Minister of Health from 2007 to 2011, Prof. Chen Zhu.
Listen to Jean-Marie Dru, President of the Foundation of the Academy of Medicine: “ There has been a clear shift from the Chinese authorities. They now consider that the population must be aware of the challenges of pollution. “
In addition, still for Jean-Marie Dru, “the whole world is looking at China and China is very ambitious with a hegemonic desire to set an example in all areas including health and education. And the authorities would therefore be ready to go very far, even to relocate their factories… ”
Closed factories, clear sky
At the same time as the Franco-Chinese forum of the Foundation of the Academy of Medicine was held, the APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which brought together 21 heads of state from Asia-Pacific, took place. including Barack Obama. And to show itself to the great of this world in its best face, the Chinese authorities had transformed Beijing into a dead city: shutdown of all its factories, vacations for the administration and schools, automobile traffic divided by two. Result: the sky is finally uncovered, azure blue sky and crystalline air… Unheard of since the 2008 Olympic Games!
Generation sacrificed
But while waiting for concrete measures, Beijing must still live in this mashed peas. The Franco-Chinese forum was also open to students in medicine, pharmacy and science, who were able to express themselves. For 25-year-old Tredilin, hope gives life. This student in 3th year of pharmacy wants to believe that like the big cities polluted at the beginning of the XXth century, Beijing will be able to rectify the shooting. But until then, she is aware of belonging to a sacrificed generation.
Listen to a Chinese pharmacy student : “Perhaps we are a sacrificed generation … But, we are confident, China will reduce its pollution level. “
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