Particulate Matter in Air

What is the issue?

Festivals, crop stubble burning, industrial & transportation smoke will soon increase the level of particulate matter in air.
This is increase will be sustained due to reduced wind speed as winter sets in.

What does the statistics say?

‘Global Burden of Disease’ study estimates that, in India, ambient air pollution is responsible for 3,283 premature deaths every day.
India also recorded the largest deaths due to pollution during the past 25 years.
Half of the top 20 polluted cities in the world are in India.

What are the long term health effects?

Till now, almost all air pollution-related deaths were thought to be due to lung diseases.
However, evidence of pollution aggravating other diseases like heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and cancer is coming up.
Especially deaths related to ‘particulate matter’ may not be because of diseases of lungs, but due to these other conditions.
Ultrafine particulate matter emitted by road traffic, rapidly enters the bloodstream after being inhaled.
These particles then interfere with the normal reactivity of blood vessels, and are distributed to many organs including the kidneys.

What is the way ahead?

Remedial measures have shown reduction in adverse outcomes effects and improved life expectancy in several parts of the world.
Better urban planning with proper land-use assessment and environment consciousness needs to be done.
Inter-disciplinary groups to evaluate the full range of impacts of air pollution on human health are needed.
Tools need to be developed to identify pollutants, find origin of particles, and develop culturally-appropriate solutions.

Source: The Hindu