China's Yellow Dust Storms Begin, Data Called a "State Secret"

East Asia's yellow dust season is underway, with clouds of sand spotted last week in northwest China now closing schools, disabling factories and depositing toxic loads in Korea and Japan.

The dust storms last from March to May of each year, with sands pulled by wind from deserts in Mongolia and China, picking up pollution in China's industrial regions and finally arriving in the east.

Damage estimates are hazy, but conservative figures put manufacturing losses in the billions, especially among makers of high-tech goods -- and the human costs are greater, as the pollutants trigger lung and immune diseases.
The storms appear to be getting worse, driven by deforestation and desertification caused by excessive livestock breeding. But it's hard to know for sure: China's keeping mum on the storms.
Two weeks ago, the country withdrew from a monitoring program planned
with Mongolia, Japan and South Korea. After refusing to let its
equipment be used in gathering meteorological data, they declined to
share what information they will collect, calling it a "state secret."
The decision supports a law enacted last year forbidding weather
observation data -- apparently critical to national security -- from
being shared overseas.

People buy millions of products manufactured in China every day, from toys to electronics. It appears, however, that the factories that produce those consumer goods are also exporting a more deadly product to its neighbors to the east.
This “export” is storms of deadly pollution. South Korea has recently closed schools and many businesses as toxic sandstorms have begun to sweep through the country. The sandstorms, a result of seasonal winds and dry weather, start in China’s Gobi Desert. The storm travels from the desert through some of China’s biggest industrial centers, picking up pollutants such as dioxins and airborne heavy metals on the way.

South Korea has ordered schools to close and drivers in south-west Japan have been warned about low visibility from the dust clouds.
Every spring brings "yellow dust" storms which blow sand from China's Gobi Desert over the Koreas and Japan.