Of the four mentioned so far by Chinese media, two were hit by a train.
“At least four deaths have been blamed on what Chinese media calls the ‘smoggy weather’ — including two high school students who were hit by a train due to low visibility.” [MSN Money]
The notorious London ‘Big Smoke’ of 1952 is blamed for 4,000 people dying prematurely and 100,000 more made ill. The victims nearly all had pre-existing life-threatening respiratory problems (pneumonia, bronchitis) which were aggravated by the smog, and the combination was lethal. The smog was not the sole cause of any specific identifiable death.
The 7000 of so people of Donora PA who were sickened and the 20 who died in the smog of 1948 were exposed to toxic acid gases (HF, SO2) vented from a zinc smelter and trapped by a thermal inversion layer for several days. Again PM2.5 was not a factor.
If smog killed, LA would be a ghost town.
MT Geoff: Currently in New York City subways there is an ‘epidemic’ of people getting hit by trains because they are (a) chemically impaired, or (b) pushed. Since there is no evil corporate demon (or Republican, or both) to blame, the activists are not talking about it.
Sheesh, how smoggy is it when people get hit by trains because of visibility problems? Putting aside the EPA PM2.5 malarkey, this is pretty bad smog.