It Really Is BAD Stuff

[Randy W]

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Hopefully, this means they might do something about it - from the Global Times

 

'Poisonous chemicals' found in Jan smog

 

 

 

The elements found in the prolonged smog that hit many cities in northern China in January are a combination of that of London's Great Smog in 1952, which was generated mostly by the use of coal and killed approximately 12,000 people, and the Los Angeles photochemical smog in the past century and dust aerosol, an endemic pollutant in China, according to a report published by the academy on Saturday.

Large amounts of nitrogen-containing organic compounds, a main element in the photochemical smog produced by the reaction between sunlight and exhaust from vehicles and industrial fumes, were found in the academy's research.

 

[Fu Lai]

 

According to the report, vehicle exhaust made up a quarter of the source of hazardous particles measuring 2.5 microns in Beijing last month, while coal consumption and pollutants blown in from outside Beijing each contributed 20 percent.

 

Lü Daren, an academician at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics under the CAS, told the Global Times that the major cause was human activities that discharge pollutants.

 

"Combined with the relatively still air, pollutants from firecrackers will contribute to the smog, but in general, most of the pollutants in the smog come from oil and coal consumption," Lü said.

 

Wuhan is being affected heavily by a lingering haze that never seems to go away. During this new year's celebrations we have been giving out N95 masks as gifts and pleading with family and friends to protect themselves. This is not a "ho hum" problem we say, it is more dangerous than normal and you have to keep your face covered outside.