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Brown Cloud Covering Asia May Kill 1 Million

Aired August 13, 2002 - 14:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: If you're having trouble breathing these days, you might have Asia to thank. Research conducted by the United Nations has revealed some alarming facts about Asia's air pollution and its impact around the globe.
CNN science correspondent Ann Kellan joins us with more details -- Ann.

ANN KELLAN, CNN SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT: Carol, as many as hundreds of thousands of people could be dying prematurely because of this cloud. It's a thick brown cloud that's covering parts of Asia. It's having an enormous impact to everything from health to agriculture.

This report was put together by 100 scientists working with the United Nations Environment Program. Basically, it's issuing a warning that conditions could get a lot worse if changes are not made.

We have satellite views of that so-called brown cloud released by NASA. You can see the dense haze from these satellite views. It's about 2 miles thick. Imagine its impact on the weather. It's a thick haze made up of tiny particles of pollution, block the sun's rays from Earth, and that impacts crops.

Already, India has reported a 10 percent drop in its winter rice harvest. And less heat hits the ocean, and that has an impact on the evaporation and the amount of clouds and rain that forms. The particulates in the air have already changed the size of the raindrops. The monsoon season has been affected.

scientists are seeing an increase of rain on the east coast of Asia and a sharp drop in rain over the northwest parts of Asia. The haze may also be reducing rain over northwest India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, by as much as 20 to 40 percent. So while we're seeing droughts in Pakistan and India, there's flooding and rain in Bangladesh, Nepal, northeastern states of India.

So the question is what's causing all this pollution? According to scientists, forest fires, the burning of agricultural wastes -- the big one is a dramatic increase in the burning of fossil fuels, from automobiles, industries and power stations. Also millions in China cook with coal and wood-burning cookers; they also emits pollution into the air.

And people are seeing and feeling the impact. One person visiting Beijing says he went out for a jog; he got a sore throat, and his phlegm turned black. According to the report, this brown cloud is an environmental hazard. If emissions are not controlled, it will only get worse. The UN is saying as many as 1 million people could die from this.

And it does disperse: half way around the globe in a matter of days. So we do get some of it. Researchers can't say how much. It depends on the weather systems and how the weather is going. But according to Tim Bates with the National Weather Service, the United States gets its own share of pollution. Some days are worse than others. One big difference is they we have more efficient fuel burning. So pollution in the U.S. contains less of this black carbon or soot, and that soot is what is absorbing the sun's radiation and causing all the problems there -- Carol.

LIN: Wow! All right. Thank you very much, Ann Kellan, our science correspondent.

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