Smog hangs in the air around buildings in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong
The Hong Kong government described air pollution to be the “greatest daily health risk to the people of Hong Kong” back in 2013, yet in the time since it has only taken a few concrete actions despite commissioning a number of studies.
Although levels of cancer-causing pollutants have exceeded World Health Organization standards for some 15 years, the vast majority of Hong Kong residents seemed to have ignored the problem.
A study commissioned by the territory’s Environmental Protection Department noted that 60 to 70 percent of particulate matter is acquired from mainland China. Thus, much of Hong Kong’s pollution comes from its neighboring region. In the cold season, as much as 77 percent of air dust comes from China as the wind direction tends to blow contaminants towards Hong Kong.
A report issued by The Guardian detailed how Margaux Giraudon, a French national who was born in Hong Kong, developed asthmatic bronchitis at the age of three. According to her father Nicolas Giraudon, his daughter grew ill, requiring her to be hooked up to breathing machines in the hospital for three days.
After Margaux’s hospitalization, the French national became obsessed about measuring air pollution, purchasing pricey air purifiers for each room in his house.
According to the media outlet, he began taking his testing equipment to his daughter’s school, where he discovered that the air there too was contaminated. The father assumed that school officials did not want to hear about the problem, thus he launched a campaign to clean the air – but was resisted.
As his daughter developed a sickness that caused her lung capacity to fall by nearly a third compared to other children her age, the family decided to move back to France.
The father admitted that he missed the lower taxes in Hong Kong yet he said, “but I prefer to pay tax than to kill my children.”
The level of pollutants has exceeded five times the acceptable levels at its peak. Last year, air pollution caused over 1,600 premature deaths, as stated by the Hong Kong University’s school of public health.
Researchers even estimated that there were more than 300,000 doctor visits linked to smog during the first month of the year.
A study also showed that air pollution increased the risk of dying from any type of cancer by 22 percent in Hong Kong.
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