Beijing Olympic organizers guarantee good air quality

The deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environment Protection Bureau told reporters on Saturday that air quality has been deemed acceptable for four days since measures to reduce air pollution were implemented last Sunday.

Du Shaozhong said, however, that air pollution has been serious enough in the last two days to warrant health alerts for seniors, children and those with breathing ailments such as asthma.

Beijing has closed factories and limited car use in order cut to down on smog.

These environmental conditions are alarming athletes, doctors, and other health advocates, who are questioning how Beijing's air quality will affect the Olympic athletes' performance -- along with the short-term health of competitors, who have been training years for this event.

"It's like living in the middle of a construction zone," says Bob Lanier, MD, a Fort Worth-based allergy and asthma specialist who visits Beijing several times a year. "It's like any big city. I think that when athletes get off the plane they're going to be really paranoid, because it has been really bad."

But are these legitimate worries or overcautious measures? Lanier, who holds an academic appointment at Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, says the city's air-quality conditions during the past few years in the city have gone from "terrible" to "not so bad." He says in terms of air quality, there are worse places to hold such an event that are closer to home.

"If you had the choice of holding the Olympics in L.A. or Beijing, I'd probably choose Beijing," he says.