64,000 Babies Die In Womb Every Year Because Of Polluted Air In China: Report
NDTV
China ranks fourth among the studied nations in terms of the number of foetal deaths caused by PM 2.5.
Air pollution in China claims lives of up to 64,000 unborn children every year, according to a recent study. This comes despite the capital city Beijing making efforts over the past ten years and longer to control pollution, said a report on South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Forty per cent of stillbirths in Asia, Africa and Latin America in 2015 were attributed, according to a study of 137 nations, to exposure to PM 2.5, which are mostly created by the burning of fossil fuels.
According to the study published in Nature Communications, China ranks fourth among the studied nations in terms of the number of foetal deaths caused by PM 2.5, which accounts for 98 per cent of stillbirths worldwide.
"Improved air quality in some of the 137 countries (e.g., China) might underlie the reduction in the global burden of stillbirths. Therefore, meeting the World Health Organisation air quality targets could prevent stillbirths," the Peking University researchers said. They were quick to emphasise that the Chinese government's recent efforts to combat air pollution have prevented even more such deaths.
