Yesterday Danwei reported that China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) published air pollution statistics for major Chinese cities.<\/p>\n
The Beijing pollution rating for December 12, 2006<\/a> was a record 500, the maximum score on the scale that SEPA uses. 200 is considered a bad day for Beijing. The primary pollutant on December 12 was described by SEPA as “inhalable particles” (\u53ef\u5438\u5165\u9897\u7c92\u7269).<\/p>\n Thanks to Blake Stone-Banks, Danwei has found some more specific information on what this means: “Inhalable particles are particulate matter of less than 10 micrometers (microns) in diameter. This is the most prominent form of air pollution in Beijing.”<\/p>\n A source at SEPA confirmed that ordinary dust does not register on their air pollution index. The index is a measure of sulphur dioxide (SO2 – a major component of acid rain), nitrous dioxide (NO2 – a combustion-relation poison), and inhalable pollutants that are smaller than 10 microns.<\/p>\n There’s more information in English about particulate matter and its effect on your health on an Australian government website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SEPA stats for Beijing air.<\/p>\n