Panic sets in over Beijing pollution a week before Olympic Games

Beijing has announced new restrictions on car usage and said it could close hundreds more factories as panic set in over pollution levels ahead of the Olympics.

By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 8:45PM BST 31 Jul 2008

The fresh curbs to tackle smog will come into force if the air quality continues to fail Beijing's "safe standards" when the Games commence after an opening ceremony next Friday.
A list has been drawn up of 222 chemical, construction, and coal-fired factories in Beijing, the neighbouring city of Tianjin and the surrounding province of Hebei which will be temporarily shut down.
Swathes of northern China's heavy industry, particularly concrete and chemicals firms, are already on an enforced two-month holiday in an attempt to improve air quality.
In addition, more vehicles will be taken off the roads. Currently, most lorries are banned in the city while cars with odd-numbered licence plates can only drive on odd-numbered dates, and even plates on even dates.
Under the new rules, no car would be able to drive on a date that shared the same last number as its licence plate, while the existing rules might also be extended to Tianjin and Hebei.
Along with the threat of doping, and a bitter row among members about China's censorship of the internet in Olympic venues and accommodation, pollution will be a major focus of the last session of the International Olympic Committee before the opening ceremony.
Jacques Rogge, the president, arrived at the start of what has already proved the most controversial Olympics for two decades without speaking to reporters.
He has previously said that endurance races may have to be postponed should air quality be poor, though it has since been confirmed that this is a decision that will be taken by the Beijing organisers.
Since the current restrictions came into force on July 20, air quality has failed Beijing's own standards on four days out of 12, even though city officials say that the measures have reduced overall pollutants by 20 per cent.
Beijing's standards are themselves more lax than those recommended by the World Health Organisation.
Yesterday's overall reading was 69, or "good", where "excellent" is for a reading under 50 and anything over 100 is a "fail".
Some national teams have already complained of feeling the effects of the air since arriving in the city.
"Some of our guys have inherent breathing issues, and to put them in this environment ... it's worrisome for sure," said Terrry Schroeder, coach of the American water polo team.
This week has seen clearer skies, thanks to rainstorms, but on sultry and dry days the smog builds up quickly again.
On Wednesday, both Beijing's environmental protection bureau and an IOC representative tried to play down the problem, saying that just because the sky was grey and hazy did not mean that it was necessarily polluted.
"Most of the people see the fog, they say it's pollution," said Gilberto Felli, the IOC's executive director for the Games. "But we know here it's not pollution. It's mist, a fact of the nature."
However, Beijing does not currently release statistics for ozone, one component of a polluted rather than a misty haze.
In addition, a website that gave a district breakdown of pollution readings in the city has had public access denied since a link was displayed on a Telegraph website.
In the other major row, Kevan Gosper, the IOC member who heads the press commission, said he had been kept in the dark about conversations between IOC officials and the Beijing organisers when it was confirmed that sensitive websites would remain blocked to journalists and other visitors to Olympic venues.
"This certainly isn't what we guaranteed the international media and it's certainly contrary to normal circumstances of reporting on Olympic Games," he said.
Mr Rogge previously promised uncensored access. "I would be surprised if someone made a change without at least informing him," Mr Gosper said.