City Blames Air Pollution On Bacon

We all know cars and factories emitting gases into the air cause smog, but a government official in a southwest China city has laid the blame on people making smoked bacon. Now they're just being silly.

The city of Dazhou in Sichuan Province has endured heavy smog since the new year began, with the PM 2.5 reading frequently exceeding healthy levels.

Rao Bing, deputy head of Dazhou Environment Protection Bureau, said recently that one of the causes of the city's lingering smog is smoking bacon, a traditional method of preserving pork by local residents.

Eating preserved pork and sausages is a long-held tradition in Sichuan, and almost every household makes smoked bacon before the Chinese lunar new year, which falls on Feb. 19 this year.

Local chengguan -- or public civil servants -- have started to raid and forcibly demolish meat-smoking sites.

The claim invited public ridicule and skepticism after Rao's statement found its way online on Wednesday.

On Sina Weibo, netizens mocked the official's argument by saying that Dazhou's air might "smell like smoked bacon."

"Smoking bacon has a long history, but smog does not," said one comment.

Smoking meat does contribute to air pollution, but only to a small degree, according to volunteers at Bayu Public Welfare Development Center, a non-government environmental protection organization, which conducted a three-day survey at a dozen bacon-smoking sites.

They need to zip it. Bacon is wonderful. Bacon is life. I mean, look at it..............

Leave bacon alone!