China's pollutants reach US

Mercury discharged from traditional coal-fired power plants and other air pollutants from China are being found in mass quantities as far away as the US, Stephen Johnson, head of the US Environmental Protection Agency told the Financial Times. Johnson is in Beijing to sign an agreement with counterpart Zhou Shengxian of the State Environmental Protection Administration on handling hazardous waste. United Nations research shows that 53% of the world's 4,400 to 7,500 metric tons of natural and human-caused mercury emissions every year come from Asia. The EPA has been assisting China conduct mercury emission inventories on its polluters. A survey of water sources in eastern Jiangsu province, where there is a concentration of manufacturers, found that heavy metals – including mercury, cadmium and lead – were present in 41% of fish species.