Now Cher and the Sierra Club Are Parroting the 'Beijing Air Equals 40 Cigarettes Per Day' Myth
Apparently actress/singer/zombie Cher doesn't read the Beijinger, and we're not sure whether that's good or not. If Cher did, then she'd know that the "breathing Beijing air is like smoking 40 cigarettes per day" line that she's parroting in a new Sierra Club video is nonsense that was never claimed and was quickly debunked by this fine publication.
"'Spending one day in Beijing is now the equivalent of smoking 40 cigarettes,' Cher says during the video," according to EcoWatch.
The number appeared in The Economist, an otherwise fine publication, which attached it to a graphic showing air pollution levels throughout China, having come from what seems to be a stray comment from a researcher at Berkeley Earth.
"'In short, for those of you who don’t care to read the mathematical calculations below, nowhere in China is the air pollution anywhere near the equivalent of smoking even one cigarette per day – a fact that Beijing’s own Dr. Richard St Cyr pointed out in 2011 in this pioneering blog post,'" True Run Media (the Beijinger's parent company) General Manager and Beijinger contributor Michael Wester wrote after doing the math.
"'Nevertheless, the editors of The Economist musn't have seen that. They quoted Berkeley Earth, a non-profit organization founded by environmentally-conscious scientists (with no direct relationship to the university in California), saying Berkeley Earth’s scientific director, Richard Muller, says breathing Beijing’s air is the equivalent of smoking almost 40 cigarettes a day,'" Wester wrote.
"'Poisonous air causes the premature deaths of more than 4,000 people each day and two birth defects a minute. The Chinese people suffer in heartbreaking ways at the hands of these 21 polluters. The Chinese people are bound to lives in masks, beneath apocalyptic, smog-filled skies,'" Cher also says in the video. We'll be fact-checking "two birth defects a minute" separately.
For now, go outside and enjoy the blue sky.
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Email: stevenschwankert@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @greatwriteshark
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Photo: Fan Pop
