Today is World AIDS Day, and the theme this year is "Getting to Zero" (zero infections, zero discrimination, zero AIDS-related deaths). HIV and AIDS is not perceived as an epidemic in China, but the number of cases has been rising in recent years. News outlets are running a variety of stories bringing statistics and anecdotes from around China and we've collected them here for your perusal: more ›

Are you reading this from your mobile device while lounging next to a public swimming pool in Shanghai? If so, put said device down, run to the nearest shower, and rinse. Thoroughly. more ›

During a spot check by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), six different types of bottled water were discovered to contain elevated amounts of the chemical compound bromate, a byproduct of the water sterilization process which, in excess, could lead to cancer. Among the water producers that are feeding you cancer water are Harbin Pharmaceutical Group and Jingyou Honghu Mineral Products Co Ltd. According to stuff we've read, excessive consumption of bromate may result in symptoms such as "nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain" as well as other scary stuff. 18 other brands of bottled/barelled water failed to meet general quality standards, as AQSIQ found high levels of not only bacteria (something we've worried about before) but free chlorine and strontium as well. A total of 220 different bottled/barreled water from 211 companies in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province were tested during the spot check. more ›

Not that we have anything against migrant workers, mind you. As long as all the blood is properly screened, there shouldn't be any problems, right? Shanghai health authorities released a report yesterday that claims only 1.17 percent of the city's population are blood donors, and that 70 percent of all blood donations from street donation centers come from non-local migrant workers. Other statistics claim that China's national blood donation rate stands at 0.87 percent, which is lower than the 4.54 percent and 1.01 percent seen in high-income to middle-income countries, respectively. Shanghai's blood reserves are currently in dire straits, with available blood for emergencies being 30 percent lower than what's necessary, and blood type A supplies standing at 35 percent lower than needed. more ›

A new report from Caixin Online states that scores of sane individuals are regularly committed to mental health institutions after going through informal diagnostic procedures, sometimes only after brief 20 minute mental health checks. Patients are then unable to leave their respective institutions due to a lack of proper oversight in verifying their mental health status. This one issue is part of a larger pattern of systemic failure in China's mental healthcare system, which includes outmoded methods and outdated attitudes in treating the mentally ill, along with a general scarcity of proper resources and funding. These images are a stark look at a darker aspect of Chinese society that rarely ever sees the light of day. more ›

According to the latest official statistics released by the Ministry of Health, around one in three cases of HIV involve gay or bisexual men in China, where the AIDS epidemic is becoming increasingly prevalent. more ›

Sales have been halted on 31 brands of bottled water in Beijing after failed safety tests revealed bacterial levels of up to 9,000 times above safety standards! WHAT? Is nothing sacred?! Fortunately it didn't include small individual bottles, but rather "large barrels." We're hoping that means some kind of industrial-sized tank, and not water cooler jugs. Apparently the cause of the contamination was poor sanitation standards at factories, where filters and pipes were inadequately cleaned. more ›

You'd better think twice before laying those spankin' new ceramic tiles on your kitchen floor. According to Shanghai Daily, the Shanghai Environmental Protection Industry Association, which has been offering free indoor radon radiation tests since April, announced yesterday that more than 80 percent of those buildings showed excessive radiation, especially from granite, ceramic tiles and "sanitary fittings" such as toilets, bathtubs and basins. more ›

Why these bullfrogs all be coughing in our food?! Several frogs that were purchased in Shanghai's seafood wholesale markets have been found to be carrying cholera-causing bacteria. The disease was first detected in frogs in Kunshan, and was traced back to Shanghai's Tongchuan market in Pudong. more ›

This video, strange in that it's a well-produced English-language PSA-type clip directed specifically at the Chinese, covers just about every dismaying Chinese health statistic out there. Compiled from WHO, UN, and Chinese Ministry of Health data, the statistics show that apparently regardless of all the calesthenics, China is getting really fat and dying from all kinds of terrible diseases. more ›

“Sandstorms can actually be called ‘coal dust storms’,” said Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner Dr. Sun Qingwei. “Coal ash is a very tiny and light particle, easily picked up by wind. Winds traveling at 8 meters per second can already disperse coal ash up to 150,000 square kilometers from their origins in open-air dumping sites. And winds in a sandstorm are even stronger, with speeds of at least 25 meters per second - thus they can spread coal ash much farther. This means that even people who live far from thermal power plants in eastern and southern China must face the threat of coal pollution at their doorstep.”

No surprise here: Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Corp, located in Pudong, has been blamed for that foul odor wafting about Shanghai that we told you about last night. Reports of the odor started around noon on Sunday and continued into the evening. The Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau still maintains that the low levels of sulfides found in the air shouldn't harm your health. Just your delicate sensibilities. more ›

Authorities are trying (and failing) to pin down the source of a mysterious and foul smell wafting about Shanghai's many districts, beginning Sunday and continuing into the early hours of Monday morning. Microbloggers in Pudong, Xuhui, Jing'an, Hongkou, Changning, and Luwan (and maybe even as far as Suzhou) have all reported a terrible smell, sometimes strong enough to elicit nausea and dizziness. The Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau says that while they still cannot locate the source of the stench, which is said to smell like rotten eggs or fruit, they definitely have measured slight sulfur compounds in the air. But they assure residents that low concentrations of sulfur are not harmful to your health. Stay tuned... more ›

Shanghai Daily has warns us not to buy (or at least not to eat) cucumbers with flowers on the top as they are stuffed chock full of growth hormones, which some farmers have extracted from birth control pills! Yuck. They allow the cucumber to age up to 50 times faster so they are ready before the flower dries up. While no tests have actually been done on the tainted vegetables, according to one dealer "people in the industry all know these cucumbers contain hormones." So if you see them next time you're at the wet market, steer clear. more ›

After initial research done by the Shanghai Children's Hospital and Shanghai Environmental Protection Industry Association in a study last year, the answer is: well, yeah maybe. In a study of 30 children with leukemia, it was discovered that 15 came from homes with furniture or decor with excessive formaldehyde discharge. more ›

Concern has been raised over the impact of on-screen smoking on China's youth as the country continues to struggle with poorly-managed smoking bans (or ones that failed to happen at all). Although tobacco ads are banned on radio, TV, and newspapers, smoking in shows and movies is not regulated and tobacco companies are still allowed to do things like sponsor big sports events. Now, the China Association on Tobacco Control (CATC) has called for a ban on tobacco product placement and smoking scenes on TV and in movies - which would be a noticeable change: last August, the CATC found that 31 out of 40 movies and 28 out of 30 TV shows surveyed had smoking scenes. Xinhua reporters monitored seven TV channels for two hours from 8pm to 10pm last week and found 49 screen shots of smoking, something a Beijing CDC study has proven can make about one out of three middle schoolers keen to try it. With 350 million smokers and growing, no wonder the WHO is warning of a Chinese "death wave" if smoking habits don't let up. more ›

Local authorities announced a crack down today on what they term "underground ambulances," or black ambulances, who profit from the illegal long-distance transport of patients in and out of Shanghai. Often shoddily outfitted and misleading to customers, black ambulances pose a serious risk to patients who are ignorant of options and desperate to get home. more ›

Ex-official Chen Bingzhong, who suffers from terminal liver cancer, has issued a letter calling on the government to come clean about a blood selling scandal that infected up to 100,000 people with HIV in the 1990s (an estimate that, if correct, would make up over 1/7 of all infections to date.) Distributed by the Beijing Aizhixing Institute, the letter pushes for an open investigation into the incident where villagers in Henan were infected via donation and transfusion practices between 1992 and 2004: "Collectors paid villagers to give their blood, pooled it without testing for HIV or anything else, extracted the valuable plasma then re-injected the blood back into those who sold it." Yeesh. What's worse, at least 10 victims have been sent to labor camps for attempting to receive reparations. Yet another example of the government attempting to protect it's image by simply damaging it further. more ›

Today is Global AIDS Day, so we thought we'd take a look at the state of HIV/AIDS in China and some of the important developments that have taken place over the last year. Bad news first: the total number of AIDS deaths in China jumped a crazy 20,000 from last October to now, putting the total deaths on record at 68,315, according to figures released earlier this week. While the jump in numbers is most likely due to more accurate recording methods, the government has promised to respond by stepping up screening for the disease and education campaigns among at-risk groups. more ›

After several residents complained of a strange smell in Pudong's Waigaoqiao district last night, work safety bureau officials detected not one, but at least three toxic substances in the air. Ethanethiol, trimethylamine, dimethyl (as well as "other gases") were all found and blamed on a nearby petroleum chemical plant. Breathing these chemicals can result in lowering of blood pressure and difficulty breathing. As if we needed any more reasons not to move to Pudong. Fun facts: ethanethiol is considered by the Guiness Book of World Records to be the smelliest substance in existence and trimethylamine is the chemical largely responsible for things like bad breath. more ›

The two up top are from the Prevention of Diseases section. On the left, we have "Go to have smallpox vaccination" (1956) and on the right, "Declaration of war on SARS!" (from way back in 2003). Look at the big version of that one to see what SARS looks like when magnified ... scary. more ›