Letter to the Editor of Wall Street Journal - Response to a report on air quality
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Letter to the Editor of Wall Street Journal - Response to a report on air quality
The Wall Street Journal
The comparison of Clean Air Network (CAN) on mortality rates due to air pollution reported in your article entitled "Hong Kong's pollution tops China" of 28 February 2012 is flawed. It has drawn health impact estimations for Hong Kong, the Mainland and other countries from different sources using different estimation methodologies and assumptions. For example, the estimation for Hong Kong quoted by CAN is based on the air quality readings obtained from both roadside and general ambient air quality monitoring stations. As for the Mainland and some other countries such as the USA, Canada, they do not operate roadside air quality monitoring stations. It is therefore not appropriate to make direct comparison between the health impact estimations for Hong Kong (which have taken into account air quality data from both roadside and general ambient monitoring stations) and those for the Mainland and some other countries (which do not include data from roadside stations).
The Hong Kong SAR Government is determined to improve our air quality for better public health protection and maintaining our competitiveness as a financial hub and tourist destination in this region. In this regard, we announced on 17 January 2012 the adoption of a set of new air quality objectives (AQOs), which has been drawn up with reference to recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and a package of 22 control measures designed for attaining the proposed new AQOs.
We have already pressed ahead with implementation of many of the proposed measures, such as those aiming at further reducing the emissions from power plants and vehicles, over which the community has wider consensus. We are also in the process of launching additional measures, including a trial to retrofit Euro II and Euro III franchised buses with selective catalytic reduction devices, strengthening emission control of petrol and LPG vehicles, and requiring ocean-going vessels to switch to cleaner fuels while berthing.
Together with the efforts of the Guangdong authorities in reducing air pollution, we would expect a continual improvement of our air quality.
Mr Mok Wai-chuen
Assistant Director of Environmental Protection (Air Policy)
Environmental Protection Department
HKSAR Government
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