中国的代价：每30秒有一位出生缺陷的婴儿问世

北京某火电厂的烟囱 报道显示中国人民正为国家的高速经济发展付出健康和未来的代价！

中国官方媒体China Daily报道，国内出生缺陷婴儿数目因污染问题而激增，且已经到达危险水平。

报道引述中国国家人口和计划生育委员会副主任江帆说，目前，中国平均每30秒就有一位有出生缺陷的婴儿问世。

江帆说，出生缺陷婴儿的数字，无论是在城市还是乡村，都在持续增长。

英文《中国日报》的这篇报道说，盛产煤矿的山西省是全国出生缺陷率最高的省份。计生委把这归咎于山西庞大的化工业。

研究人员还指出，成年人经常接触二氧化氮、一氧化碳和可吸入颗粒物等污染物也是导致出生缺陷多发的原因。

记者们说，这报道显示中国人民正为其急速发展的经济付出代价。

江帆说，这样的情况迫使他们启动一个高等级的防治计划。国家计生委已经在其中8个出生缺陷问题最严重的省份开展抽检工作。 BBC

以下为 China Daily 更详细的英文特别报道

Every 30 seconds, a baby is born with physical defects in China, all links to the country's degrading environment, an official of the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) has said.

"The number of newborns with birth defects is constantly increasing in both urban and rural areas," Jiang Fan, vice-minister of the NPFPC said at a conference in Beijing recently. "And the rather alarming increase has forced us to kick off a high-level prevention plan."

She said that "more than half" of the pregnancies in the country had benefited from the commission's scientific guidance since 2007.

A free pre-pregnant examination program has covered eight provinces with the highest rate of birth defects, she said, refusing to divulge further details.

"The government must take measures to prevent birth defects," Li Bin, minister of the NPFPC said.

According to Hu Yali, a professor at the Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University, environmental pollution accounts for "10 percent of the causes" of physical defects in Chinese infants.

"Our research shows that chemical waste pollution has been the main factor to influence the health of pregnant women and their babies in some areas," she was quoted as having said by Takungpao.com.

China's coal-rich Shanxi province, a center of noxious emissions from large-scale chemical industries, has recorded the highest rate of birth defects, NPFPC said.

"The problem of birth defects is related to environmental pollution, especially in eight main coal zones," said An Huanxiao, the director of Shanxi provincial family planning agency.

Researchers also linked the high rate of birth defects in the country to air pollution.

If pregnant women are exposed to air pollution, it increases the risk of giving birth to under-weight infants, said a study conducted by Yale University.

"The higher the level of exposure to nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), the greater is the risk of having low-weight babies," it said.

Environmental exposure to specific combustion pollutants during pregnancy can result in chromosomal abnormalities in fetal tissues, according to another research done by the Columbia University Center for Children's Environmental Health.

Pan Jianping, a professor of the Women and Child Health Research Office under Xi'an Jiaotong University, warned that the increasing rate of birth defects among Chinese infants would soon become a social problem, which "will influence economic development and the quality of life".

"Economic pressure is very heavy for families raising babies with physical defects, particularly for those who live in poor rural areas," he said, adding that the families also have to cope with psychological trauma due to the social stigma attached to abnormal children.

Bad living habits, unbalanced nutritional diets, and old-age pregnancies are also possible factors that cause birth defects in newborns, he said.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-01/31/content_7433211.htm