Birth defects rising fast

With China's economic rise has come an alarming increase in the rate of birth defects, in part likely due to heavy industrial pollution across the country.

A report released this week by China's Ministry of Health shows the rate of birth defects among babies had soared by 70 percent since 1996, alongside the country's most rapid period of economic expansion and industrial development. The report says problems like congenital heart disease and cleft palette rose from an average rate of 8.7.7 per 10,000 babies in 1996 to 149.9 by last year.

China Radio International quoted one doctor as saying problems are present in 1.2 million of 20 million babies born every year in China.