China Smog Pollution: Sickens 8-year-old, Develops Lung Cancer; Environmental Hazard Becomes Threat to National Security

An 8-year-old girl from China's Jiangsu Province has developed lung cancer, a fine testament to the seriousness of the country's smog pollution problem. The alarming PM2.5 and smog have been blamed as the underlying causes of her condition. Apart from the growing health hazard, the smog has likewise been identified as a threat to national security.

The sickly child has been found to reside near a busy major road her entire life in Jiangsu, a province east of mainland China. Doctors from the Jiangsu Cancer Hospital led by Dr. Jie Fengdong said the daily, constant exposure to dust and particles ultimately gave the young girl her lung disease.

A disease which typically affects people over 70 years old, the unidentified Chinese girl has been recorded as the youngest Chinese citizen to contract the sickness, according to the American Cancer Society. The severity of the country's pollution enabled it to happen. Health experts believe there might be more cases, which is highly possible.

A wealthy province bordering Shanghai, haze has covered Jiangsu since early November. It holds the Yangtze River Delta area where many factories can be found. It is one of the most polluted outside of northern China.

Lung cancer is China's leading cause of deaths. Lung cancer deaths in Beijing alone between 2001 and 2010 have risen 56 per cent, the time China underwent a construction boom and massive industrialisation, making it to become the world's second-biggest economy today.

Local reports said that lung cancer patients at one hospital in Nanjing, Jiangsu's capital, already occupy nearly 50 of 120 beds in the thoracic surgery department. Most of the patients are aged 30s and 40s.

And as China's smog pollution has yet to see the end of the line, neighbouring countries such as Japan and South Korea are getting anxious as to how their neighbor's environmental plague could seriously hurt them and the health of their peoples.

The hazardous air pollution coming from northern China going towards South Korea and Japan has been forecast to worsen this winter. In fact, residents in Japan's Chiba prefecture have been warned to stay indoors as pollution enveloped parts of the region.

Japanese nationals working in China's major cities have expressed sending their families back home because of the severe air pollution.

"The options are to go on vacation, change your residence or find a new job somewhere free from the pollution," the Mainichi newspaper reported, quoting a doctor who was present in a meeting called by the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Oct 28.

Back in China, the central government has expressed concerns the menacing smog pollution is not only threatening the health of its residents but also the country's national security.

This,as surveillance cameras manning sensitive sites can no longer see through the thick haze.

"As the visibility drops below three metres, even the best camera cannot see beyond a dozen metres," the Daily Mail quoted Kong Zilong, a senior project engineer and an expert in video surveillance technology.

Cameras, aided by infrared imaging, can see through fog or smoke but only up to a certain level. The smog pollution in mainland China however has reached apocalyptic proportions.