Beijing tops the world in air pollution caused by motor vehicle exhaust and the city has become world's largest sediment center of such emissions.

Satellite photos released by the European Space Agency show that Beijing and its neighboring northeast Chinese provinces are world's top two regions most seriously polluted with sulfur dioxide, which mainly stems from motor vehicle emissions hardly filtrated.

The Agency says, the apparatus on an environment monitoring satellite shows that in the past ten years, the pollutants in the sky over China has increased by about 50 percent while pollution in the United States and Eastern Europe has remained at the same level or somewhat been reduced.

Official with Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection said, motor vehicle exhaust is the main source of the city's air pollution, taking up 23.3 percent of the total amount of inhalable particles, which have become the primary pollutant in Beijing's atmosphere.

Inhalation of sulfur dioxide in large amount will lead to lung injury and problems in human respiratory system.

Complaining about the unbearable vehicle emissions in Beijing, many cyclist residents say they feel dizzy and a sore throat after riding for one or two hours.

By the end of July, Beijing has had 2.46 million motor vehicles running in the city, and the figure is increasing at an annual rate of more than 14 percent, according to statistics from Beijing traffic authority.

It is predicted that Beijing will have 3.5 million vehicles by 2008.

By People's Daily Online