Hospital denies media reports of 8-year-old cancer patient

A cancer hospital in East China's Jiangsu province on Friday denied media reports that an 8-year-old girl has become China's youngest lung cancer patient due to worsening air pollution.

After carefully checking their patient database, the hospital said that the youngest lung cancer patient it has received was a 10-year-old girl in November 2006. The girl recovered after a surgery the same year.

The cause for the girl's lung cancer could not be determined, as cancer's cause is complicated, according to an email the hospital sent to China Daily on Friday.

On Monday, a report by the China News Service suggested that the hospital has newly accepted an 8-year-old lung cancer patient, and citing a doctor at the hospital to say smoggy conditions might be the direct cause of the disease.

The news then received attention from various newspapers, such as the South China Morning Post and New York Times, which published reports this week, saying China has found the youngest lung cancer patient due to worsening air pollution.