"rate of defects is highest in coal-producing regions." (birth defects)

[ensho]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-birth-defects2-2009feb02,0,3417123.story


China blames pollution for surge in birth defects

The government's acknowledgment of the problem is a victory for environmentalists, who say the rate of defects is highest in coal-producing regions.


Chinese officials told the state media that birth defects are increasing at an alarming rate and that a major reason was degradation of the environment.

"The number of newborns with birth defects is constantly increasing in both urban and rural areas," Jiang Fan, vice minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, was quoted by the China Daily's weekend edition as saying in a recent conference.


Environmentalists say that the leading culprit is China's dependence on coal and that birth defects are highest in coal-producing regions such as Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.

Although Jiang did not give out new figures at last month's conference, a study by the commission released in 2007 found that birth defects had increased nearly 40% from 2001 to 2006, coinciding with the country's explosive economic growth.

The government's acknowledgment was a victory for environmentalists, some of whom have faced arrest and harassment for trying to publicize the relationship between pollution and disease.

-snip-

Greenpeace China has been campaigning against pollution from coal.

"The statement from the National Population and Family Planning Commission once again proved that coal burning is not only a climate killer, but one of the major health hazards in China," Greenpeace China said in a statement Sunday.

-snip-

At the conference last month, family planning minister Li Bin was quoted as saying that a baby with birth defects is born in China every 30 seconds.
-snip-
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wonder what the true stats for our country is - how many seconds

[MountainLaurel]

1. How many seconds what?

I'm not sure about birth defects, but if you look at childhood disease in coal-producing areas, I'm sure you'd find some issues. Heck, read some of the articles about mountaintop removal: In some schools, kids are missing half the year with migraines, GI issues, nosebleeds, etc.

[ensho]

4. in China a baby with birth defects is born every 30 seconds

how many defective babies are born in the US every 30 seconds? I believe these kinds of stats have been hidden by the neo cons.

[MountainLaurel]

Ah, I see

I'd say we're probably not far behind, considering that there are areas of the U.S. with infant mortality rates that rank below those of some third-world countries.

According to the March of Dimes, 1 out of 33 babies is born with birth defects, which doesn't include problems that only reveal themselves later, such as childhood cancers, autism and learning disabilities, etc.

[ensho]

7. kick

nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. By my calculations, about one every four minutes.

Given 4.1 U.S. births per year, and your stat of 1 out of 33 born with birth defects.

So given Chinese population is ~4 time the size of the U.S., birth defects are about twice as bad in China.

Keep in mind, birth certificates have decreased significantly in the U.S. over the last few decades due to environmental controls- less lead paint, less smoking, etc.

China is not unlike the U.S. back in the fifties, pollution wise.

[ThomWV]

5. I spent a good bit of time riding a motorcycle through coal country last summer

I live in northern West Virginia and there is no "mountain top removal" type mining in this end of the state and to be honest about it not many large strip jobs anymore either. The deep mines continue to produce, those that survived the last price turn-down at least. I do know of two local deep mines that are closing though.

What I wanted to tell you about was what I learned about Mountain top removal. This may surprise the hell out of you but I couldn't find any. Now I had set myself a route for other purposes when I was down that way but I spent 3 days riding all over the southern end of this state and never saw any mountain top removal. I did see some small (by our standards up here) strip jobs, about the same level of activity as I saw in the eastern panhandle when I was up there. I did see a lot of recent activity in gas drilling, particularly north of Matewan up to about the Ohio River.

Of course MTR exists, it was just an accident of fate that I didn't run across it but there is more. The topography down there is considerably different than the rest of the state. If you are going to mine coal down there it almost demands MTR methods. Up here it wouldn't be economical to even try it. Of course the real problem with it is water pollution and that problem is almost always thought of as local to a community or two but in truth the entire Mississippi River drainage systems suffers every time a molecule of heavy metal is released into either the groundwater or a stream here on our side of the mountains.

[mod mom]

2. Thanks, another article to send my coal loving governor & senator!

[whistle]

3. Is it the mercury that coal has in it which are triggering these birth defects?

[ThomWV]

6. I think the answer to that one is yes and no. Start with the no

To start with the answer 'no' let me suggest that as long as you don't burn the coal the mercury in it doesn't really matter.

They 'yes' part comes into play as soon as you burn the coal - which can be and likely is 100s of mile away from where it was mined - and then the mercury becomes airborn and finds it way to whereever the winds demand. Generally that means to the east and north of the coal fired plower plant. And that is where the problem lies - burning coal.