Air pollution from China’s coal plants was responsible for over 250,000 premature deaths in 2011, while also harming hundreds of thousands of Chinese children, according to new research. The study, commissioned by Greenpeace, found that in 2011, air pollution in China caused 36,000 babies to be born with low weight, 320,000 children and 61,000 adults to suffer from asthma, 340,000 hospital admissions and 2m doctor visits… The Greenpeace study estimates that the proposed addition of 570 new coal-fired power stations, on top of the 2,300 already operating in China, would cause an further 32,000 deaths per year…A report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in July claims that air pollution in northern China reduces average life expectancy by five-and-a-half years…[I]n November, an unnamed eight-year-old girl reportedly became the youngest person in China to be diagnosed with lung cancer, with her doctor saying that air pollution was to blame.