Yu Lingyun, an administrative law professor at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that it was unreasonable for the MEPB to refuse to make the PM 2.5 data public.
"Disclosing this information does not violate any laws. The data is not a state secret," Yu said. "The public has the right to seek administrative recourse or resort to administrative lawsuits to force the bureau to make the data available."
Ma said that weather authorities should publicize PM2.5 information daily, so that residents could be better prepared for serious air pollution.
Zhang Yuanhang, dean of the College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Peking University, told the Guangzhou Daily that if China adopts the PM2.5 standard, only 20 percent of cities in the country will have acceptable air quality, compared to the 80 percent under the current PM10 rating.
"I think that is one of the reasons behind authorities' hesitation to use the PM2.5 measure," Zhang said.
Meanwhile, other regions, including the provinces of Shandong and Hebei, and Tianjin municipality, have also been hampered by fog.
Ma Xuekuan, a weather forecaster with the National Meteorological Station, told the Xinhua News Agency that he expects the fog to dissipate as a cold front sweeps across the region Thursday.
Yang Jingjie, Mo Ting and Jin Jianyu contributed to this story.
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