China will closely monitor environmental effects on human health
to ameliorate the harm caused by air or water pollution, under the
first-ever action plan of its kind launched on Wednesday.
"The National Action Plan on Environment and Health (2007-2015)
is intended to control the influence of environmental factors on
the human body and reduce environment-related diseases to safeguard
the health of the public," said Vice-Minister of Health Chen
Xiaohong.
He spoke on behalf of 18 government departments that jointly
launched the plan at the third national forum on environment and
health.
Under the plan, China will improve laws, regulations and
standards on health and the environment. It will also set up a
comprehensive network to monitor drinking water safety, air
pollution, soil conditions, extreme weather and public hygiene.
Further, it will act in a "timely and efficiently" manner to
analyze and predict the impact on human health caused by
environmental problems.
Traditional Chinese medicine will also be applied to research in
the field, it said.
Environmental degradation in China has become a
major factor affecting human health, especially in some rural areas
where the quality of the drinking water is not up to hygiene
standards, thus giving rise to diseases such as
schistosomiasis.
Also, a large percentage of birth defects in China are believed
to be associated with environmental problems, although there are no
definitive figures on the exact percentage of defects due to this
cause. Statistics show that nearly 1 million babies are born with
defects in China each year, of whom just 30 percent can be cured or
treated.
Harelips, one of the major birth defects in China, which are
often associated with cleft palates, are a common congenital
malformation caused by hereditary and environmental factors.
China has 2.4 million children with cleft palates and about
25,000 babies are born with the ailment each year, government
statistics show.
(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2007)