A woman and
child wear masks to protect from the heavy smog in
China's Jilin province on
October 22, 2013 (AFP/File, Str)
|
Beijing —
An eight-year-old girl has become China's youngest lung cancer patient, reports
said, with doctors blaming pollution as the direct cause of her illness.
The girl,
whose name was not given, lives near a major road in the eastern province of
Jiangsu, said Xinhuanet, the website of China's official news agency.
It quoted
Jie Fengdong, a doctor at Jiangsu Cancer Hospital in Nanjing, as saying she had
been exposed to harmful particles and dust over a long period of time.
Lung cancer
cases among children are extremely rare, with the average age for diagnosis at
about 70, according to the American Cancer Society.
But the
incidence of the disease has skyrocketed in China as the country's rapid
development has brought with it deteriorating air quality, particularly in
urban areas.
Lung cancer
deaths in China have multiplied more than four times over the past 30 years,
according to Beijing's health ministry. Cancer is now the leading cause of
death in the smog-ridden capital.
The report
of the eight-year-old girl's diagnosis comes after choking smog enveloped the
northeastern city of Harbin two weeks ago, bringing flights and ground
transport to a standstill and forcing schools to shut for several days, with
visibility in some areas reduced to less than 50 metres.
At the
height of the smog, the city's levels of PM2.5 -- the smallest, most dangerous
type of airborne particle -- reached 1,000 micrograms per cubic metre, 40 times
the World Health Organization's recommended standard.
High levels
of PM2.5 have been linked to health problems including lung cancer and heart
disease.
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