IOC's Chief Medical Officer Dismisses Beijing's Continual Yellow-Gray Haze As "Mist" - Guardian

[hatrack]

As Beijing's polluted air came close to exceeding levels even the Chinese consider dangerous yesterday, one of the International Olympic Committee's most senior figures dismissed the yellow-grey haze that periodically hangs over the city as mist, and blamed the media for overstating pollution problems.

Air quality in Beijing remains a big cause for concern three days before the start of the games. Members of the US athletics team arrived in the city wearing face masks yesterday and organisers are preparing to postpone or relocate endurance events including the marathon and road cycling if smog levels reach dangerous limits.

But yesterday Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC's medical commission, said he was confident that pollution would not harm athletes or visitors, and suggested media coverage had created a false impression of pollution levels.

"The mist in the air that we see in those places, including here, is not a feature of pollution primarily but a feature of evaporation and humidity," he told the IOC's annual session. "We do have a communication problem here. Once the misconception has become sort of established in the minds of people, it's not that easy to get the right message through.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/06/olympics2008.china

[Bolo Boffin]

1. Baghdad Bob and his new job! n/t

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. in LA or Cairo, Mexico City, or La Paz

that is called smog

I guess the Chinese use clean coal

[kestrel91316]

3. You can label that crap anything you want., IOC.

Those of us who live with it every day, coughing our lungs out, know damned well what it is.

[phantom power]

4. It's not a bug, it's a feature!

:rofl:

[phantom power]

5. magical...