There are 2008 reasons to boycott China's Olympics! Here are just a few more.

Pollution

China promised a green Olympics but don't hold your breath.

• Airborne pollution causes more than 650,000 premature deaths a year.

·•"International experts say that hundreds of millions of Chinese are exposed every day to the potentially lethal mix of soot particles and smog." New York Times, Dec. 9, 2007.

• A UN Environment Report indicates that high levels of air pollution are a "legitimate concern" for anyone taking part in next year's Beijing Olympics.

• Beijing is so choked with smog that athletes are concerned about competing. In fact on 9 April Olympic chief Jacques Rogge conceded that air pollution may now be an issue for athletes' health in Beijing during the Games. He earlier denied fears over pollution, but has now suggested that certain events of more than one hour could be exacerbated by the weather. The marathon, road cycling, triathlon, open water swimming and race walking are the events. Most at risk are the marathon, road cycling, triathlon, open water swimming and race walking.

• Marathon record-holder Haile Gebrselassie has withdrawn from the Olympic event because of the pollution.

• New Zealand and American athletes say they may be forced to wear face masks.

• Some countries such as Britain, Australian and Canada are delaying their teams' arrivals in Beijing until the last possible moment to protect their athletes.

• The Daily Telegraph reported that Britain's swimming team is to train in Osaka, Japan. The Canadian team may provide athletes with asthma inhalers.

• In an interview with the BBC, the World Health Organization's Dr. Michal Krzyzanowski warned visitors that "high pollution levels may be a trigger to serious problems if they already have, for instance, cardio-vascular disease. Those who come with asthma may suffer attacks."

Freedom of Speech — or Lack of

Hundreds of websites are blocked or banned in China.

Search results are filtered and websites are censored. Words searched for include "freedom", "human rights" and "Tibet". Reporters without Borders reports that more than 2,500 websites were blocked last year.

Internet users have been imprisoned after unfair trials and charged with subversion or leaking state secrets.

Chinese journalists who investigate sensitive stories are often intimidated or even arrested. (See Dissidents page.)

Reporters without Borders says at least 30 journalists and 50 Internet users are currently detained in China.

Zhao Yan is a New York Times Chinese researcher sentenced to three years for factually reporting that the former president and Communist Party chief, was resigning. (See Dissidents page.)

According to one study, China's huge apparatus for internet filtering is the "most sophisticated effort of its kind in the world." (FT.com)

The government blocks access to thousands of news websites. It jams the Chinese, Tibetan and Uyghur-language programs of 10 international radio stations.

Hu Jia is being held incommuniado and his wife Zeng Jinyan is under house arrest for their blog about human-rights violations. Police removed their computer, phones and cameras and froze their bank accounts. She is cut off from the rest of the world. (See Dissidents page.)

Shi Tao is serving a 10-year sentence for sending an email from his Yahoo account. (See Dissidents page.)

Forced Abortions

National Public Radio uncovered evidence that women have been forced to have abortions as late as nine months into pregnancy. Morning Edition interviewed a couple in April 2007 who were essentially kidnapped by planning officials and driven to a maternity hospital. Wei Linrong, who was seven months pregnant, was given several injections, after which she gave birth to a stillborn baby. Her husband said the hospital was full of women who were being coerced into aborting their babies. www.npr.org

In a May 2007 New York Times article villagers and witnesses testified about officials who forced pregnant women in southwestern China to undergo abortions if they didn't have approval to give birth. www.nytimes.com

Chen Guangcheng was sentenced to more than four years in prison for exposing forced abortions in eastern China. His trial took two hours; one of his lawyers was arrested before it even began. (See Dissidents page.)
news.amnesty.org www.guardian.co.uk

Officials in the Chinese county of Guangdong were ordered to carry out 20,000 abortions and sterilizations after Communist family-planning chiefs found that the official one-child policy was being routinely ignored. www.telegraph.co.uk

In 2002 CNN reported that six Chinese women who lived in Taiwan were requested to have abortions when they came home for a visit. http://archives.cnn.com