Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T22:41:26.228Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 1 - Health Effects of Environmental Degradation

from Part I - The Health and Nonhealth Impacts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

Yanzhong Huang
Yanzhong Huang
Affiliation:
Council on Foreign Relations and Seton Hall University
Get access

Summary

This chapter looks at China’s environmental crisis and its impacts on public health. In examining the health impacts of air pollution, it highlights ambient PM.25 as the number one killer of all the risk factors for pollution-related mortality in China. Besides air pollution, water and soil pollution also has a significant and independent effect on people’s health. The health impact of pollution is further complicated by exposure to heavy metals such as arsenic and lead. The posited health effects of air, water, and soil pollution are epitomized in the phenomenon of cancer villages. Additional links between the environment and health, including trash and public health, pollution and mental health, pollution and sperm quality, and pollution and antibiotic resistance, are also examined.

Keywords

air pollutionwater pollutionsoil pollutionPM2.5food safetycancer villages
Type
Chapter
Information
Toxic Politics
China's Environmental Health Crisis and its Challenge to the Chinese State
 , pp. 25 - 53
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×