China to monitor smog's effects on health

China’s Health Ministry will establish within five years a national network to study the health effects of smog, Reuters reported, citing state media. The network will gather data on PM2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers, in different locations around the country. The government has long pushed back against such a close watch over PM2.5 levels but the ministry admitted in a recent report that the absence of monitoring has smudged the link between pollution and illness. Air quality is of increasing concern to China’s stability-obsessed leaders, anxious to douse potential unrest spurred by deteriorating environmental conditions.