A series of major cities in Asia have recorded high levels of air pollution over the past couple of months. In Indonesia, hundreds were evacuated and schools were forced to close down as air quality deteriorated severely in September.
While the situation is more fatal in north India, particularly in Delhi, where the toxic air is causing fatal health impacts on all its residents, there is no serious action to better the situation.?
The spikes in pollution levels, especially of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) and the worsening of the air quality index, has led to closure of schools, declaration of health emergency by the state government, and numerous demonstrations by civil society as well as alarming media coverage.
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But the main source of pollution, crop burning in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, has still not been tackled.?
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has gone so far to label this long period of pollution that North India suffers from each year, as a new season. ¡°Air quality levels have worsened in India creating public outcry with dire consequences for large swaths of society,¡± the UNEP observed on Wednesday.
¡°These recurrent episodes happen every year like clockwork during the beginning of winter, aggravated by the festive season. In India, extreme air pollution has become its own season, from October to February.¡±
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Local public health experts have estimated that by the time children return from school they are already exposed to air pollution level that is equivalent to smoking as many as 50 to 60 cigarettes.
But while many schools and school buses are being equipped with air purifiers as well as being compelled to shut down by authorities on days of higher pollution levels, the vulnerable sectors of society are more disproportionately exposed to this environmental threat.
Being exposed to this toxic air for three years in a row is already having a deadly effect on most of the populace.? A reputed surgeon from Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr Arvind Kumar, who is the founder-trustee of the Lung Care Foundation and chairman of Centre for Chest Surgery at Ganga Ram Hospital, came forward with data that number of non-smoker lung cancer patients has increased at least four-fold in India¡¯s national capital since 1988.
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¡°When I started operating on cancer patients in 1988, I found their lungs were pink. At the time, 90% of the lung cancer patients were smokers and rest were non-smokers. Now, the ratio stands at 50:50. Half my cancer patients are non-smokers. Worse, the lungs of almost all patients are dotted with black spots,¡± says Dr Kumar.?
Particulate matter that is present in the smog akin to that engulfing Delhi has negative effects, according to the World Health Organization, it is responsible for 7 million premature deaths worldwide each year.?
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But that¡¯s not all. A recent report by the Health Effects Institute should send shivers down your spine. It says that if no concrete and additional measures are taken to contain this crisis, deaths from air pollution in India will rise significantly. It projects the figure to rise from 1.1 million since 2015 to 1.7 million deaths annually by 2030 and 3.6 million deaths by 2050.