The AFP reports that rural China is largely suffering from fluorosis, a debilitating disease prinicpally caused by coal burning. In the Guizhou Province, where this man to the left was photographed, 37 million people are estimated to have some form of fluorosis, which rots bones, joints and teeth. Children as young as six are reported to have the beginning stages of the disease. Nationwide, more than 2.8 million have some form of skeletal fluorosis, according to data published in 2005 by China’s national health ministry. The condition is so common in rural China, where 800 million of the nation’s 1.3 billion people live, that the health ministry estimates that 100 million are at risk.
This disease reminds me a bit of rickets, a disease that plagued children who worked in the coal mines, caused
by lack of sunlight (Vitamin D). That begs the question as to whether the Chinese suffer from rickets also, since many of their population still work long hours in mine shafts.
To read more of the article, click here.
Thanks for pointing this out. To engage with China in a fully translated bi-lingual forum about coal, climate, and the possibility of change, head to http://www.chinadialogue.net the worlds only fully bi-lingual website about China and the environment.
Another problem re: coal use in rural areas is Arsenic contamination. The US Geological Survey has investigated the issue in Guizhou Province, southwest China, where coal used for indoor home cooking may have 35,000 ppm arsenic, and chilie peppers roasted over the coal, with up to 500 ppm arsenic, are used in cooking. The arsenic problem apparently isn’t as widespread as the fluoride issue that Summer notes, I presume due to the regional chemistry of the coal used, but thousands of people are suffering nevertheless. The USGS site at http://energy.er.usgs.gov/health_environment/energy_production has some summary information on this and the fluorine problem.
Fluoride is a terrible pollutant, and is not regulated mostly because of regulatory fascism (collaboration of corporation and state)…It’s definitely worse than some other fossil fuel-based pollutants which ARE monitored and regulated.
For more info on fluoride and fluorosis, check out the Fluoride Action Network and/or ActionPA