Smog causes lung cancer: lawmaker

A senior lawmaker on Thursday warned of increasing mortality of lung cancer caused by air pollution.

Of all cancers, lung cancer mortality rate has increased the fastest in recent years, said lawmaker Yang Wei, director of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and member of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

Yang told a group discussion that recent studies show lung cancer is the top killer for males and the second largest killer for females, partially caused by accumulation of air pollutants.

"We always talked about smoking less to keep healthy, but one of the primary reason is the polluted air," he told lawmakers discussing a report on the enforcement of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution, which was submitted to the ongoing bimonthly session of the top legislature.

Many parts of China are frequently smogbound during the coal-burning period each winter. The Beijing International Marathon was held on Oct. 19 in heavy smog, with PM 2.5 reading hitting 331, well past healthy levels.

Yang said north China's meteorological and atmospheric conditions help pollutants accumulate. There is too much ozone in the air, which easily forms particles if no wind occurs.

"Sometimes, the air near the ground is cold while above it is hot, like a lid on a big pan. The lower air cannot diffuse," he said. This was the cause for serious smog in Beijing in January 2013.

Sources of the smog should be thoroughly studied, Yang said, adding nine government bodies, including the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, are working on the matter.

Lu Hao, chairman of the NPC Environment and Resources Protection Committee, said farmers' burning straw should be regulated.

"However, if the straw is not burned, farmers will have a problem as there is no place to store it," Lu said, adding the government should find a solution to the issue, such as using straw to generate electricity, and that farmers should not shoulder the cost of disposing straw.

Noting that many industries have shifted to less-developed western China, lawmakers warned of air pollution in the hinterland.

China has vowed to strengthen air pollution control. Beijing will adopt a special air pollution control plan for the upcoming APEC meetings, featuring temporary closure of factories in the event of a pollution warning.