Co-organized by Dr. Devra Davis, Senior Scientist of the World Resources Institute and a member of the Climate Institute Board, and Dr. Shouzheng Xue of Shanghai Medical University, the Symposium was supported by a grant from the Wallace Global Fund to the Climate Institute. Presenations were made by six Chinese and U.S. experts-.Shousheng Xue, M.D., Dr. Devra Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., David Wheeler, Ph.D., World Bank, Harvey Belkin, Ph.D., U.S. Geological Survey, Keith Florig, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University,and Grant Tao, M.D.,Ph. D., Johns Hopkins University. Two experts served as Discussants-Paul Schwengels, Ph.D., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Maureen Cropper, Ph.D., World Bank. This year China expects nearly one third of the world's cases of lung cancer among women.
Lung cancer is higher among rural women than among men, despite the lower smoking rate among women.
Several investigators have linked women's increased exposure to dirty cooking and heating fuels indoors to this trend. Arsenic and Fluorine are principal causes of the health problems attributed to domestic coal production. Arsenic poisoning and dental and skeletal fluorosis result through air pollution and ingestion through food. Reduction of these problems requires identification of acceptable alternative sources for coals low in these two substances in China. Slides of Several Presentations Follow.