Scientific solutions sought to eliminate smog

Passengers head home at a railway station in Xi'an on a smoggy day, Jan 17, 2017. [Photo/IC]

WHILE ATTENDING A PANEL DISCUSSION of the Shaanxi delegation during the fifth plenary session of the 12th National People's Congress on Thursday, Premier Li Keqiang vowed to reward research teams that are capable of unveiling the root causes of smog and offering viable solutions to curb airborne pollution. Beijing News commented on Saturday:

Li's comments came less than a week after he pledged the government would "work faster" to rein in pollution caused by coal burning and "make our skies blue again" while delivering the 2017 Government Work Report.

As he has reiterated on many occasions, tackling the country's severe air pollution is a top priority of social governance and should be pursued at all costs.

This is not to say that China is at present making little effort to do so. Quite the opposite, the battle against smog is being institutionalized in terms of enforcement, with heavy polluters facing harsher punishments and supervision. The missing piece of the puzzle though is a more targeted, scientific response mechanism, particularly to secondary pollutants, such as nitrates and sulfates.

Emulating the success of Los Angeles and London, two cities that used to be plagued by thick smog, is worth a try. But the sources of China's air pollution are different, hence it can only be eradicated when the country applies the right cure. That explains why the central government is willing to offer a prize to scientists who come up with the urgently needed answers.

A feasible solution is that environmental protection enforcers work closely with air pollution scientists. A 2015 study by Zhejiang University has proved for the first time that autophagy, which plays a key role in keeping cells clean, has something to do with inflammatory airways caused by smog.

Scientific findings like this should be given proper attention and applied to the fight against air pollution. Los Angeles only began to get rid of its smog when studies into its causes and effects boomed and rumors concerning the smog accordingly disappeared. China has all the reason to do the same.