China’s smog similar to L.A.’s in 1950s  

專家談大氣灰霾溯源研究：與光化學煙霧成分一致

中國科學院最新公布的一項研究結果稱，今年以來京津冀的強霾天污染物主要化學組成與上世紀美、英等國的煙霧事件污染物一致，引發民眾對“公共健康”的隱憂。

Shijiazhuang (CNS) -- Chemical compounds found in China's smog are similar to those in the photochemical smog that affected Los Angeles in the 1940s and '50s, according to a study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The academy detected a large amount of nitrogen-containing organic compounds in the recent air pollution that shrouded Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. The chemicals are believed to be the major components of the smog that killed more than 800 people in L.A. over six decades ago.

Since the density of the nitrogen-containing organic compounds in China's smog has not been measured, we can't tell how harmful it is to human health, said Xie Jianfeng, an official from the environmental monitoring center in Hebei province, on Monday.

The cause for the prolonged pollution is a direct consequence of both man-made emissions and disruption of the natural ecological balance, he added.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences says the prolonged smog was caused by a combination of intensive coal burning, car emissions, cooking pollutants and a particular weather pattern that creates an inversion layer over low-lying cities.