Children suffering from cleft lip and palate wait for an examination at the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital in Nanjing, China. (China Photos/Getty Images)
The birth defect rate was 90.78 per 10,000 births in Beijing in 1997, according to the Beijing Bureau of Health. It nearly doubled over the next ten years: by 2008, the birth defect rate was 170.82 per 10,000 births, and is thought to be still increasing.
Beijing Health Bureau spokesperson Deng Xiaohong said the increase was especially sharp after 2003. Data from the Planned Birth and Reproductive Health Technical Service Center of Shunyi District in Beijing showed that in 2006 the birth defect rate in the district was 139.14 per 10,000. In 2008, the rate went up to 158.91.
The leading birth defects included heart diseases, deformation of digits, cleft palates, and problems with the neurological system.
Beijing is not alone in facing the problem. Similar statistics can be found in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hunan provinces, according to Caijing, a Beijing-based business magazine.
Between 2003 and 2007 in Guangdong, birth defects went up from 186 to 249 per 10,000 births, according to data from a report jointly issued by the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Statistics and the Guangdong Women and Children’s Working Committee.
In Zhejiang, province-level data showed that during the same period, birth defect rates surged from 115.1 to 208.7 per 10,000 births.
Hunan and Jiangxi Province also saw marked increases.
An expert from the National Center for Birth Defects Monitoring admitted that birth defects have been climbing.
A report from the Center stated that in 2007, the three most common birth defects were heart diseases, excessive digits, and cleft palates, accounting for 25.1, 16.3, and 13.2 cases per 10,000 births, respectively.
Experts estimate that approximately 4 to 6 percent of the 20 million newborns in China have birth defects, amounting to 800,000 to 1.2 million cases. Approximately 200,000 to 300,000 have visible defects.
Environmental pollution has likely played a role in the increase of birth defects.
According to CCTV’s Economics Half-hour, birth defect rates in the coal-producing areas of Shanxi Province are much higher than the national average.
Read the original Chinese article.
