Chinese birth defects soar

The number of birth defects in Chinese infants has risen nearly 40 per cent since 2001, a Government report said, and officials linked the rise to China's worsening environmental degradation.

The rate of defects had risen from 104.9 per 10,000 births in 2001, to 145.5, affecting nearly one in 10 families, China's National Population and Family Planning Commission said in a report on its website.

Infants with birth defects now accounted for "about 4 to 6 per cent of total births every year", the family planning agency said.