Beijing has opted to include unhealthy "haze" levels in daily
weather forecasts from Thursday to warn people about air pollution,
according to an official with the Beijing Municipal Meteorological
Station (BMMS).
Haze refers to weather with air humidity of 80 percent or below,
noted Guo Hu, head of BMMS, and should not be confused with fog,
which occurs when humidity in the air is above 90 percent.
Haze forms when concentrations of dust and smog in the air are
high.
Haze will be classified light, moderate and heavy in the
forecasts. Light haze means that outdoor visibility is between five
and ten kilometers; with moderate haze visibility is between two
and five kilometers; and heavy haze means visibility is less than
two kilometers, said Guo.
Experts said that haze contains substances harmful to the
respiratory tract and lungs so that people should stay indoors
during moderate and heavy haze days. Long exposure to haze will
lead to coryza, bronchitis and even lung cancer. Besides, gloomy
hazy days could make people depressed and affect their mental
health.
Beijing reported 10 hazy days last December, or one-third of the
total recorded in the capital last year.
Shi Hanmin, head of the Beijing Municipal Environmental
Protection Bureau, said local environmental authorities would take
further steps to control air pollution and had set an ambitious
target of 245 "blue sky" days this year after beating the 2006 goal
of 238 days with fairly good air quality.
Beijing reported 20 days with "blue sky" in January, up 82
percent over the same period last year, but sulfur dioxide days
also tripled to 9 days, according to Bureau statistics.
Beijing launched its "Defending the Blue Sky" program in 1998,
when the city had only about 100 days of "blue sky" a year.
(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2007)
