Health concern in Commonwealth

Health concern in Commonwealth

WELLINGTON (AP): New Zealand team doctor Richard Edmond said yesterday he had serious concerns about the dangers of smog at September's Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Edmond, a team doctor at three Olympic Games and two Commonwealth Games, was named to head a 12-member medical team to accompany New Zealand's competitors.

He said the medical team was the biggest for a games because of the problems with pollution in Malaysia.

"It's a medical concern," Edmond said. "I've read that breathing the smog there at the moment is the equivalent of smoking 1000 cigarettes a month. So you can imagine what that does to lungs, and people who aren't used to that certainly will be affected with their breathing."