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Conductor moves family because of Hong Kong smog

The renowned conductor in charge of Hong Kong's leading orchestra has pulled his family out of the city because of its pollution, a news report said yesterday.

Dutch maestro Edo de Waart, who conducts Hong Kong's acclaimed Philharmonic Orchestra, told the Sunday Morning Post he had moved his wife and two children to the US state of Wisconsin to get them away from the worsening smog.

His comments came as city leaders consider a new pollution alert system to give residents better and earlier warning of bad air days.

"We have a four-year-old son who has some asthma problems," De Waart told the Post.

"The air quality is terrible in Hong Kong. I don't know what it does to the little kids who grow up there, and we just don't want to take the risk. It is that simple," he said

De Waart is one of the most high-profile figures yet to leave the territory because of pollution, although his contract means he will return to work with the orchestra 14 weeks a year.

He took up the baton here in 2004 as chief conductor and artistic director on a five-year contract, with an option for a further five years.

Business groups and top companies have increasingly warned that Hong Kong's pre-eminence as Asia's financial hub is at risk as executives leave or refuse to be located here because of the unhealthy atmosphere.

Late last year, global investment bank Merrill Lynch warned that worsening air quality was likely to drive banks like itself from the territory.

Its words echoed similar warnings by the British, US and local chambers of commerce, who all called for immediate action to ease pollution.

A recent survey said one in every three days last year saw pollution levels that were bad for health. Pollutants, mostly drifting in from southern China's heavily industrialized Pearl River Delta, have reached near-dangerous levels.

Tourists have also lamented the disappearance of the city's famous harbor and spectacular skyline beneath a blanket of smog.
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