Revealing the hidden health costs embodied in Chinese exports.
China emits a considerable amount of air pollutants when producing goods for export. Previous efforts have emphasized the magnitude of export-related emissions; however, their health consequences on the Chinese population have not been quantified. Here, we present an interdisciplinary study to estimate the health impact of export-related air pollution. The results show that export-related emissions elevated the annual mean population weighted PM2.5 by 8.3 μg/m(3) (15% of the total) in 2007, causing 157,000 deaths and accounting for 12% of the total mortality attributable to PM2.5-related air pollution. Compared to the eastern coastal provinces, the inner regions experience much larger export-related health losses relative to their economic production gains, owing to huge inter-regional disparities in export structures and technology levels. A shift away from emission-intensive production structure and export patterns, especially in inner regions, could significantly help improve national exports while alleviating the inter-regional cost-benefit inequality. Our results provide the first quantification of health consequences from air pollution related to Chinese exports. The proposed policy recommendations, based on health burden, economic production gains, and emission analysis, would be helpful to develop more sustainable and effective national and regional export strategies.
†Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.|‡State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Xujia
X
Jiang
†Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Qiang
Q
Zhang
†Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Hongyan
H
Zhao
†Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Guannan
G
Geng
†Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.|‡State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Liqun
L
Peng
†Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.|§School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.
Dabo
D
Guan
∥Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, People's Republic of China.
Haidong
H
Kan
⊥Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Hong
H
Huo
#Laboratory for Climate and Ocean-Atmosphere Studies, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Jintai
J
Lin
¶School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Michael
M
Brauer
∇Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada.
Randall V
RV
Martin
‡State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Kebin
K
He
D000393:Air Pollutants; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003132:Commerce; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D009026:Mortality; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter