Reuters
August 31, 2006

The State Environmental Protection Administration lays the blame for rising pollution in China on poor enforcement of regulations and a ‘crude mode of economic growth.’

Beijing: China failed to rein in two main pollution indicators in the first half of the year as soaring energy use and lax environmental controls thwarted policies to clean foul water and skies, the government said on Wednesday. “Environmental protection and economic development are not proceeding in unison,” the China Environment News, the official paper of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), wrote in an editorial. China has set a goal of cutting pollution output by 10 percent, adjusted for economic growth, over the next five years. But just last week, Chinese authorities said acid rain caused by sulphur dioxide affected a third of China’s land mass last year, posing a threat to food safety. … In the editorial, SEPA laid the blame for the rising pollution on poor enforcement and a “crude mode of economic growth”.