Chinese companies that break environmental laws will not be allowed to receive bank loans, AP reported. The announcement was made by the State Environmental Protection Administration. Before the announcement, the agency's head, Zhou Shengxian, said worsening pollution was causing "mass incidents", a phrase frequently used for protests. He said the agency had received 8% more petitions from the public this year compared to a year ago. Earlier this week, the Financial Times found that a World Bank report was edited to exclude the statistic that 750,000 premature deaths occurred in China annually because of pollution because of pressure from Beijing, a claim the government denied.