Birth Defects on the Rise in Polluted China - Media
Date: 14-Sep-07
Country: CHINA
About 1 million Chinese children were born each year with
congenital heart problems, cleft palettes, nerve defects, limb
abnormalities and other physical defects, director of China's
National Centre for Maternity and Infant Health, Li Zhu, told
the China Daily.
The number of such congenital deformities was rising and
the current occurrence rate of 60 out of every 1,000 births was
three times that of developed countries, Li said.
Chinese parents, especially urban couples, were having
children later in life, making defects more likely, said the
report, which also blamed "exposure to hazardous pollutants and
long-term unhealthy lifestyles".
About a third of the babies born with such problems died
shortly after birth, the paper said, citing experts.
Birth defects affected a tenth of Chinese households and
created an annual financial strain of 1 billion yuan (US$133
million), the Ministry of Health has estimated.
The Financial Times reported in July that China had asked
the World Bank not to publish estimates of the number of
premature Chinese deaths each year from polluted air and water.
The bank study said about 460,000 Chinese died prematurely
each year from water and air pollution and about 300,000 more
died from indoor toxins.
