It was only a matter of time

China yesterday called on foreign consulates to stop releasing their own air quality readings. I was wondering when this would happen given the wide variences in reporting that I blogged about a few weeks ago

The Government is now saying only they are authorized to monitor and publish air quality information and data. Here is the party line from Wu Xiaoqing, a vice environmental minister. He said "other sources may not be standardized or as rigorous as ours is". Now that's called Chutzpah!!

The US Embassy in Beijing and the US consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou currently release PM2.5 readings on an hourly basis. PM2.5 particles are a risk to health because they are small enough to lodge deep in the lungs and even enter the bloodstream.

Later, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a press briefing: "Of course, if the foreign embassies want to collect air quality information for their own staff or diplomats, I think that is their own affair, but we believe that this type of information should not be released to the public." Of course it should not be released - why cause the public to be concerned about air quality when it is completely safe.

The sometimes sharp differences in air quality readings released by Chinese urban environmental watchdogs and those from the US consular authorities have stirred great debate among China's increasingly pollution-aware public. The US consular practice attracted public attention last year when Beijing was troubled by serious smog. The sharp variances in air quality reports released by the Beijing environmental watchdog and by the American Embassy spurred heated discussion.

The air quality yesterday in Shanghai reported by the government environmental authority was "good," similar to the "moderate" to "good" levels released by the US Consulate in the city. But there was controversy on May 14, for example, when the local government said the air quality in Shanghai was "good," while the US Consulate rated it "unhealthy for sensitive groups."

Wu said: "People may have noticed that the official PM2.5 readings released by Beijing and Shanghai watchdogs are basically the same as those released by some consular operations. However, the interpretations of air quality are sharply different.

As I said in a previous post the issue is how one interprets the air quality results. Wu said "It's because other countries use the air quality standards of their own country to evaluate air conditions here. That's obviously unreasonable." That's another Chutzpah quote worth noting. Yes of course it is unreasonable - in countries where clean air is a given why shouldn't the bar be set high. In developing countries with mass amounts of pollution in the air, you have to take that into account and set the bar lower - peoples health does not really enter into the equation.

Last night, the US air quality results were still available online and I hope they remain online - in the meantime I have to go and get my puffer :)