China to impose fines for extra lights
By IANSThursday, April 22, 2010
BEIJING - China will levy fines on its citizens who put on extra lights at night, a media report has said.
The administration will launch the project in Guangdong in south China, which is being dubbed as the “city without night” for its excessive use of lighting.
The municipal price bureau is studying the feasibility of collecting “light pollution” fees and are working on a plan to collect fines, China Daily said Wednesday, quoting official sources.
Meanwhile, officials from the bureau of environmental protection have criticised the move, saying the bureau only collects fees for four kinds of pollution: waste gas, sewage, solid trash and noise, according to China’s relevant laws and regulations.
Medical research has proved that excessive light surrounding the human body causes a variety of adverse health effects, including increased headaches, stress and anxiety as well as a decrease in sexual function.
The incidence of eye disease is also higher in urban areas due to light pollution.
Street lamps, neon lights and advertisement boards, glass walls of skyscrapers are the main sources of light pollution, the report said.
Meanwhile, Li Jianji, a member of the Guangdong Society of Astronomy, said there should be a time limit for switching on the neon lights and advertisement boards to reduce light pollution.
“All the city’s neon lights and advertisement lights should be switched off at 10 or 10.30 p.m. every day,” Li was quoted as saying.
Some neon lights should be allowed only on weekends or public holidays, he said.
Most of the neon lights, advertisement boards and decorative lights remain on overnight throughout the week.
–Indo-Asian News Service
pm/ky/tb
The administration will launch the project in Guangdong in south China, which is being dubbed as the “city without night” for its excessive use of lighting.
The municipal price bureau is studying the feasibility of collecting “light pollution” fees and are working on a plan to collect fines, China Daily said Wednesday, quoting official sources.
Meanwhile, officials from the bureau of environmental protection have criticised the move, saying the bureau only collects fees for four kinds of pollution: waste gas, sewage, solid trash and noise, according to China’s relevant laws and regulations.
Medical research has proved that excessive light surrounding the human body causes a variety of adverse health effects, including increased headaches, stress and anxiety as well as a decrease in sexual function.
The incidence of eye disease is also higher in urban areas due to light pollution.
Street lamps, neon lights and advertisement boards, glass walls of skyscrapers are the main sources of light pollution, the report said.
Meanwhile, Li Jianji, a member of the Guangdong Society of Astronomy, said there should be a time limit for switching on the neon lights and advertisement boards to reduce light pollution.
“All the city’s neon lights and advertisement lights should be switched off at 10 or 10.30 p.m. every day,” Li was quoted as saying.
Some neon lights should be allowed only on weekends or public holidays, he said.
Most of the neon lights, advertisement boards and decorative lights remain on overnight throughout the week.
