Air Pollution Still An Issue In Beijing

Air Pollution Still An Issue In Beijing

Sunday, July 27, 2008 11:05 AM EDT
The Associated Press
By ANITA CHANG Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese capital was shrouded in thick gray smog on Sunday, just 12 days before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. One expert warned that drastic measures enacted to cut vehicle and factory emissions in the city were no guarantee skies would be clear during competitions.

The pollution was among the worst seen in Beijing in the past month, despite traffic restrictions enacted a week ago that removed half of the city's vehicles from roadways.

Visibility was a half mile in some places. During the opening ceremony of the Athletes' Village on Sunday, the housing complex was invisible from the nearby main Olympic Green.

"No, it doesn't really look so good, but as I said, yesterday was better," said Gunilla Lindberg, an International Olympic Committee vice president from Sweden who is staying in the Athletes' Village. "The day I arrived, Tuesday, was awful."

"We try to be hopeful. Hopefully we are lucky during the games as we were with Atlanta, Athens and Barcelona," she added.

The city's notoriously polluted air is one of the biggest questions hanging over the games, which begin on Aug. 8. On Sunday, temperatures of about 90 degrees, with 70 percent humidity and low winds, created a soupy mix of harmful chemicals, particulate matter and water vapor.

Article continues here...

My GOD!!! LOOK at the POLUTION..... SHHEEEEZZZZUZZZ.....

So people are being greeted in China by people wearing paper masks...

Right... nothing wrong here...

Lots of big star athletes declined to go because of the pollution problem.