Chinese blame rise in birth defects on pollution

An expert has linked a rise in birth defects in China with poor air quality, it has been reported.

According to Jiang Fan, a senior family planning official from China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, a noticeable rise in the number of babies born with defects is due to pollution.

Mr Jiang stated: "The number of newborns with birth defects is constantly increasing in both urban and rural areas."

He added that the government has now instigated "a high-level prevention plan" to solve the problem and noted that it is most prominent in areas such as Shanxi province, where coal-mining takes place on a large scale.

Elsewhere, several countries in the eurozone were issued warnings from the European commission last week after they failed to comply with regulations regarding the emission of particularly damaging PM10 particles.