Originally Posted by
DaileyB
On my end, I would like to know what my risk is and what the consequences of certain behaviors are. For instance, when you run, you breath in more air and more particles contained in that air. I would like to know whether the obvious benefits of jogging are outweighed by the increased risk of lung disease caused by inhaling more particulates when exercising strenuously. Also, although Chinese air passengers may generally appear healthier than American passengers, the Chinese have a lower life expectancy than Americans.
.
Life expectancy in
Beijing is much higher than in
Alabama (or indeed 40 US states -- although I can't be 100% certain about the quality of the BJ numbers --
this paper suggests it was as good as most of the US by 2000, and has gone on to improve). This is despite far higher pollution levels.
This is not to say pollution is a good thing, but it is one of many factors. As more affluent Chinese take on more 'bad' western lifestyle habits, the trend for year on year improvement may be reversed.
My issue with your take is that the measures you suggest, as I alluded to up-thread, are entirely pro-active, as in 'doing something', but most likely not the right thing. I'm not a pulmonary specialist, but I have previously practiced pulmonary medicine (for >4 years) with some very famous 'world experts' (if we want to 'name drop'), so I know at least a little about it.
In the end, we all do what we think is best. Do carry on being pro-active and happy. I pro-actively check the pollution levels on my phone every day...but I'm not sure it has much bearing on my health.
Safe travels!
tb