AIR POLLUTION IN BEIJINGAIR POLLUTION IN BEIJING.doc

Death-by-Air in Beijing Shows China’s Heart Risk From Worsening Pollution Q By Bloomberg News - Dec 16, 2011 6:39 AM GMT+0800 Tweet inShare8 More Business Exchange Buzz up! Digg Print Email Enlarge image Death-by-Air in Beijing Exposes Pollution’s Untold Heart Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images Cars travel on the second ring road as pollution reaches what the US Embassy monitoring station says are Hazardous levels in Beijing on December 5, 2011. Cars travel on the second ring road as pollution reaches what the US Embassy monitoring station says are Hazardous levels in Beijing on December 5, 2011. Photographer: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images ? Play Video Q Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Bloombergs Paul Allen reports on Beijings air pollution levels. Poor air quality in Beijing, and the way its reported by government authorities, is prompting some of the citys residents to take measurements into their own hands and post the results online. (Source: Bloomberg) As smog grounded hundreds of flights from Beijing last week, emergency doctors at Peking University People’s Hospital faced a rush of patients. Lungs weren’t the problem, says Ding Rongjing, the hospital’s deputy head of cardiology. Five people were admitted for heart attacks from Dec. 4 to 6, compared with one or two a week typically. One 60-year-old male patient died. The illnesses are an unwanted consequence of the economic growth that helped spur a 32 percent jump in China’s car sales last year. Outdoor air pollution kills 1.3 million people globally each year, the World Health Organization estimates. A growing body of evidence shows dirty air not only triggers asthma and other respiratory conditions, over time it may the damage heart and blood vessels, and even cause birth defects. “Whenever we have days with bad pollution, we get significantly more patients with symptoms like high blood pressure, feeling of suffocation, and chest pains,” Ding said in an interview at the hospital, where she’s worke