Zhong Nanshan attends a penal discussion at the fifth session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), at Beijing Capital Hotel, March 7, 2012. [Photo/IC]

Smog related to lung cancer

"Smog and lung cancer are correlated", said Zhong Nanshan, National People's Congress (NPC) delegate and a renowned respiratory expert.

He said this while admitting it takes time to investigate the scale of the effect and the extent to which smog can possibly increase lung cancer rates, in an interview with The Beijing News, on Tuesday.

"Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, where I work, found that when there is smog, patients at the clinic increased by 10 to 15 percent. We are researching why the lung cancer rate in China's big cities keeps rising, whether it has something to do with the smog," said an excerpt from Zhong's recently published biography.