China: An alarming rise in birth defects ... amid concern that heavy pollution is damaging the country’s children.

The Times | October 30, 2007 | Pollution blamed as China confronts surge in number of deformed babies | Jane Macartney in Beijing

An alarming rise in birth defects was acknowledged by China yesterday, amid concern that heavy pollution is damaging the country’s children.

Babies born with conditions such as cleft palates and extra fingers and toes now account for up to 6 per cent of births each year, according to statistics published yesterday. And the number of babies born with disabilities has increased by 40 per cent since 2001 – a period that has coincided with China’s meteoric economic growth – to between two and three million a year. Up to 12 million more develop defects in childhood.
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An Huanxiao, director of the family planning agency in the coal-rich northern province of Shanxi, had few doubts. “The incidence of birth defects is related to environmental pollution. The survey’s statistics show that birth defects in Shanxi’s eight large coalmining regions are far above the national average.”
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A recent World Bank study showed about 460,000 Chinese die prematurely each year from breathing polluted air and drinking dirty water.