industrialisation, environmental degradation occurs, thereafter once per capita income has reached a certain threshold, people can then afford to demand a better environment. These cancer villages provide empirical evidence of how these early stages of economic development can cause damages of such magnitude that they are irreversible. It is unlikely to see the level of pollution in these villages decrease, meaning that in the long-term, China must address the need for health care and treatment, incurring huge costs. Problems with the ECK is that the emissions turning point may be too high, as already discussed the level of pollution will be irreversible.

National Policy.
The European Union regulation, Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) when in practise aims to protect humans and the environment from the use of chemicals, to hold polluters accountable for the placement of chemicals on the market. Countries who are not members in the EU have started to implement regulations of REACH or currently adopting a framework similar to that of REACH. China is taking steps towards regulatory approaches to chemicals and has agreed to implement Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, working with the UN. This is a step forward, however more emphasis must be placed on market-based instruments (MBIs) to prevent high levels of pollution, rather than mere registration and authorisation of chemicals as they are still causing severe health problems.

Market based instruments in China
The government have been making progress to improve the quality of the water in The Peoples Republic Of China. China’s tenth and eleventh five-year plans entailed the governments intentions in controlling water pollution. The government did invest into water pollution technologies, between 2000 and 2008, pollution control investments grew by 420%, this shows tangible efforts in cleaning up China’s water. Command and control instruments are central to water pollution and control policy. Examples of command and control policies which they use include discharge permits, the application of discharge standards and total load control. Although command and control instruments such as these achieve results, there are problems. There is little use being made of incentive based or voluntary policies. The current policies do not put enough attention on the prevention and management, rather