Pakistan’s Hazardous Air Risks Violating Human Rights

Posted on October 30, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SLAMS GOVERNMENT FOR FAILING TO IMPLEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS OF COURT-APPOINTED SMOG COMMISSION

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Wednesday said Islamabad’s failure to protect people from hazardous air in Punjab province risks violating their rights to life and health.

For most of the past year, air quality in Punjab has been rated at ‘near unhealthy’ and ‘very unhealthy.’ As the weather cools, the air quality often reaches ‘hazardous’ levels, with provincial capital Lahore in the past week hitting Air Quality Index values exceeding 300—and hitting 484 on Wednesday—the threshold where the air quality is deemed to be hazardous to the general population. This is often linked to poor fuel quality, emissions from heavily polluting industries, and crop burning.

“The high level of smog is neither a new problem, nor one that came without warning,” said Rimmel Mohydin, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International. “The government of Pakistan needs to do much more to adequately address such a severe public health crisis—one that endangers people’s health and even their lives.”

Medical health professionals in Pakistan say the rise in smog often coincides with a rise in numerous health concerns, including asthma, lung damage, bronchial infections and heart problems and shortened life expectancy. Young children and the elderly are most at risk, with the relative pollution being likened to smoking at least a pack of cigarettes a day.

According to the 2015 findings of the medical journal Lancet, 22 percent of annual deaths in Pakistan are caused by pollution, and the majority of those are due to air pollution.

Amnesty, in its statement, said low-income workers and marginalized groups are “particularly vulnerable” due to the nature of their work. “The fact that health care is not easily affordable to all means that only those who can afford it will be able to access health care and other preventative measures to mitigate the effects of breathing in hazardous air,” it added.

“Air pollution and the climate crisis are intricately linked. It exacerbates existing inequalities and paves the way for human rights violations. If authorities continue to stall making concerted efforts to address the smog crisis, it will continue to devastate human life,” said Mohydin.

In 2017, the Lahore High Court ordered the formation of a Smog Commission, which issued several recommendations to improve the environment in May 2018. These included the adoption and implementation of the Punjab Clean Air Action Plan, establishing Smog Response Desks at district levels, and utilizing appropriate technologies that reduce emissions of harmful pollutants from brick kilns. Most of these recommendations have not yet been implemented.

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussin appeard to dismiss these concerns on Twitter, blaming neighboring India for the crisis in Punjab. “Min of Climate Change informed the Cabinet that Pollution in Lahore is caused by cross border field fires and abysmal environmental conditions in India level of pollution at Wagha is double than Lahore city,” he said. Activists on social media have branded this as irresponsible and urged the government to reduce its own emissions before buck-passing.

“There is something very wrong when the air becomes so toxic that you cannot breathe without hurting yourself. The government can no longer afford to waste time while people are choking to death,” added Mohydin.

via Pakistan’s Hazardous Air Risks Violating Human Rights ‹ Newsweek Pakistan

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Pollutionwatch: European air-quality map exposes dangers

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

From diesel-stricken Paris to coal-reliant Poland, study of pollution hotspots underlines need for reform

The European Environment Agency has shed fresh light on the continent’s air quality. Following the prevailing winds from west to east there is a clear gradient, with the cleanest air in the countries first in line for fresh Atlantic winds.

Geography has an impact too: the Alps and Apennines trap air pollution in Italy’s Po Valley, making it one of the worst-hit areas.

Southern Europe’s strong sunlight leads to chemical reactions between pollutants to produce the hardest-hit areas for ozone at ground level, affecting health and crops.

One of the clearest divides comes from a political policy. Travel from Germany to coal-dependent Poland and there is a big increase in particle pollution and cancer-causing polycyclic hydrocarbons.

Diesel traffic makes our largest cities the worst places for nitrogen dioxide. The large number of vehicles that passed tests but emitted much more exhaust when driven on our roads mean London and Paris, as well as most cities and towns across the continent, are almost a decade late in complying with legal limits.

Air pollution progress has nearly stalled. With more than 400,000 early deaths annually from air pollution in the EU28, there are significant opportunities to improve our health, environment and economy by aggressively tacking the problem at source.

via Pollutionwatch: European air-quality map exposes dangers | Environment | The Guardian

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Belgrade joins world’s most polluted cities as farmers torch fields

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Despite clear skies and sunshine, residents of the Serbian capital have gasped this week in the acrid air, struggling to breathe in a city whose air pollution readings have approached those of Beijing, Delhi, Lahore and Karachi.

The Air Visual API application, which compiles data from ground sensors worldwide, ranked Belgrade 16th of the world’s most polluted cities on Thursday.

It stood at 5th place a day earlier.

Just outside the city center, thick smoke has billowed from many fields set ablaze by farmers burning weeds and corn stubble due to a common belief that this is beneficial for the soil.

This has added to the fumes from older diesel cars, domestic heating, industry and nearby open coal pits to create a toxic mist hovering over the city of 2 million.

The average car in Serbia is around 17 years old, according to a Belgrade University study.

On Thursday pollution was particularly bad in the historical part of Belgrade which suffers from chronic traffic congestion and in the outskirts – hit by smoke from burning fields.

The parts of the city overlooking the confluence of the rivers Sava and Danube however, enjoyed a respite brought by a fresh breeze.

According to the European Union Environment Agency’s air quality index the air quality in Belgrade’s city center on Thursday was ranked as harmful.

The poor air quality is a stark reminder of how Serbia must spend around 15 billion euros ($16.69 billion) before it joins the EU to comply with the bloc’s regulations about environment and CO2 emissions.

“(People) are using wood and coal for heating, that heating system must be improved somehow and the flow of traffic must be reduced,” said Jovan Tanasijevic, 75, a pensioner from Belgrade.

Aleksandar Macura, an environmental expert with the RES Foundation think-tank, said burning fields were a source of pollution in recent days, but that domestic heating and industry emitted almost three-quarters of polluting particles.

Serbia’s fiscal advisory council has repeatedly warned that the government should begin investing about 1.3 percent of GDP to tackle environmental problems including air pollution and an acute lack of sewage treatment facilities.

via Belgrade joins world’s most polluted cities as farmers torch fields – Reuters

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Changing a child’s route to school can halve exposure to air pollution

Posted on October 23, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Children travelling to school via back streets rather than main roads cut their exposure to air pollution by almost half, according to the largest study of its kind.

Earlier this year, more than 250 children at five London schools wore backpacks with pollution sensors and GPS trackers, recording whether they were travelling by foot, car or bus. The result was a clear difference in exposure to levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a harmful gas produced by diesel vehicles, between main roads and quieter ones.

The research highlights the importance of the school run in determining children’s exposure to NO2, which has been linked with asthma and other health concerns. On average, NO2 levels were five times higher in the morning, and four times higher in the afternoon, than while at school, largely because air pollution levels spike in rush hour.

The project led to 31 per cent of the participating children changing their school commute to reduce their exposure to dirty air.

Benjamin Barratt of King’s College London, who led the work, says it was already known that there were strong changes in how NO2 people breathe away from main roads, but maps modelling exposure had not been widely used or accepted as hoped. One previous study found some parents mistrust the results of air quality models and wanted to see measurements.

“The main aim of this study was to make the important issue of air quality more engaging and personal to teachers, children and their parents, stimulating understanding and action. Using the backpacks to measure levels of pollution in the air that they and their schoolmates were actually breathing made it seem more real and relevant to their everyday lives,” says Barratt.

The large number of families who changed their route demonstrates the success of the approach, he says.

On average, walking on back streets resulted in the lowest exposure to pollution, at 78 micrograms of NO2 per cubic metre of air. Car or bus travel was 85 µg/m3 and exposure was highest when walking by main roads, at 143 µg/m3. Roads that exceed an annual average of 40 µg/m3 are breaking legal limits on air pollution.

However, even on quiet routes, the backpacks detected brief spikes in pollution caused by cars using the roads as a shortcut. Parents dropping off and picking up children by car also contributed to pollution by leaving engines idling.

That said, London air is improving. Official figures published yesterday show NO2 levels in the capital have fallen by more than a third since new air pollution controls introduced in April.

via Changing a child’s route to school can halve exposure to air pollution | New Scientist

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Unsafe PM2.5 levels return

Posted on October 22, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Fine dust was at unsafe levels in many districts of Bangkok and some districts in Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon provinces.

Pralong Damrongthai, director-general of the Pollution Control Department, said on Tuesday that the levels of particulate matter 2.5 micrometres and less (PM2.5) in diameter measured 32-84 microgrammes per cubic metre of air in greater Bangkok over the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday. The safe threshold is set at 50mcg by the government.

Fine dust breached the safe level in Bangkok’s Din Daeng, Bang Phlad (Charan Sanitwong Road), Bang Khunthian (Rama II Road), Pathumwan (Chamchuri Square), Phasicharoen (Phetkasem Road), and Bang Sue districts.

For the adjacent provinces, PM2.5 levels were unhealthy in tambon Song Khanong of Phra Pradaeng and tambon Pak Nam of Muang districts of Samut Prakan, and tambon Maha Chai of Muang district and tambon Om Noi of Krathum Baen district of Samut Sakhon, Mr Pralong said.

He attributed the air pollution to a high pressure system from China that caused stagnant air.

via Unsafe PM2.5 levels return

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Scores more heart attacks and strokes on high pollution days, figures show

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Data reveals acute impact on people’s health and the strain it puts on emergency services

Scores of children and adults are being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment on days of high pollution in cities across England, figures show.

Each year emergency services see more than 120 additional cardiac arrests, more than 230 additional strokes and nearly 200 more people with asthma requiring hospital treatment on days of high pollution compared with the average on days of lower pollution.

The data, to be published in full next month, shows the extra strain that poor air quality is putting on already stretched NHS emergency resources.

Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, said: “These new figures show air pollution is now causing thousands of strokes, cardiac arrests and asthma attacks, so it’s clear that the climate emergency is in fact also a health emergency. Since these avoidable deaths are happening now, not in 2025 or 2050, together we need to act now.”

Previous studies have found spikes in hospital admissions and GP visits on days of high pollution, but the new data gives precise numbers for nine English cities and shows a clear relationship between heart attacks, strokes and respiratory illnesses and dirty air.

The researchers defined high pollution days by dividing the year in two based on levels of pollution and comparing the number of cases of the relevant illness in the higher pollution half of the year with the number of similar cases on each day in the lower half.

The data, collated by King’s College London (KCL), covers London, where there are 338 more emergencies a year on higher pollution days compared with low pollution days, Birmingham (65 a year), Bristol (22), Derby (16), Liverpool (28), Manchester (34), Nottingham (19), Oxford (10) and Southampton (16).

Much of the recent research on air pollution has focused on the lifelong effects of chronic exposure, including cognitive decline, stunted growth in children and premature death. However, it can also bring on serious illness more immediately.

Jenny Bates, an air pollution campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Many people may not realise how dangerous air pollution at high levels can be, and that it can trigger heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks as well as having long-term health effects. These figures will be a wake-up call for city leaders to take the strongest possible action.”

The government has pledged to tackle air pollution in its environment bill, proposals for which were laid out after the Queen’s speech. Campaigners are concerned that the measures proposed are too vague and too weak.

Polly Billington, the director of UK100, a network of local government leaders across England that have pledged to shift wholly to clean energy by 2050, said: “We would like to see World Health Organization air pollution standards included in the bill, as they are widely seen as gold standard, with a legally binding timetable to meet them, as that creates certainty and enables long-term planning. The absence of significantly increased powers for local leaders, together with a lack of reference to the need for adequate funding, are the big holes in the bill that will hold action back.”

On Wednesday the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and UK100 will hold an international clean air summit with the World Health Organization (WHO) director general, Tedros Adhanom.

Heather Walton, a health expert with the environmental research group at KCL, said the study was intended to provide more detail than others that have tended to concentrate on the effects of air pollution on life expectancy, such as estimates that pollution contributes to 36,000 deaths a year in the UK.

By homing in on hospital admissions for cardiac arrests, strokes and asthma, the researchers were able to provide a clearer picture of the acute impacts on people and how emergency services are affected. “This provides additional evidence of the important need for further action to reduce air pollution,” Walton said.

Bates said clean air zones were needed, but also measures to cut all traffic “because all vehicles produce deadly fine particle air pollution from brake and tyre wear. This way the air pollution health crisis and the climate emergency can be addressed together, helping to make our cities and towns healthier and more attractive.”

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We are taking urgent action to improve air quality and tackle pollution so people can live longer healthier lives. Our landmark environment bill will set ambitious, legally binding targets to reduce fine particulate matter and increase local powers to address key sources of air pollution.

“We are already working hard to reduce transport emissions and are investing £3.5bn to clean up our air, while our clean air strategy has been praised by the WHO as an example for the rest of the world to follow.”

Last week Europe’s environmental watchdog found that little or no progress had been made across Europe on cutting levels of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, which is one of the most dangerous forms of pollution because it can lodge deep in the lungs and penetrate the bloodstream.

via Scores more heart attacks and strokes on high pollution days, figures show | Environment | The Guardian

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Air pollution kills a child every 3 minutes in India

Posted on October 18, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar recorded the highest rate of child mortality due to toxic air: Global Burden of Disease 2017

Every three minutes a child dies in India because of inhaling toxic pollutants in the air, according to an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease 2017.

In 2017, 1,95,546 children lost their lives due to air pollution-related diseases, which means 535 deaths occurred daily on an average, showed the data.

Lower respiratory tract infection (LRI) caused by exposure to air pollutants was recorded as the second-major reason for child mortality, after neonatal disorder, showed the data spanning from 1990-2017.

Of the total, LRI claimed lives of 1,85,422 children aged between 0 and 5; another 10,124 died between 5 and 10 ages due to the deadly infection. In the last 27 years, more than a crore children could not live to see their sixth-year due to the deadly infection, the analysis showed.

Rajasthan recorded the maximum number of these deaths, where 126 children per 1,00,000 died of air pollution in 2017. It was followed by Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The number was also very high in north eastern states of Nagaland, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. In Delhi, 41 child deaths were recorded in the same year due to air pollution.

The lowest number of deaths was recorded in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.

Other reasons for child mortality in India included diarrhoea, malaria, protein deficiency, typhoid, and tuberculosis, among others.

Ambient air pollution is associated with mortality from LRIs, especially in combination with under nutrition and inadequate health care, according to a study published in The Lancet in 2018.

The deadly impact of air pollution on children in low and middle income countries, like India was also highlighted in a study released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018.

In these countries, 98 per cent of all children under five are exposed to particulate matter (PM) 2.5 levels, above WHO’s air quality guidelines, the study noted.

In comparison, among high-income countries, 52 per cent of children under five are exposed to levels above WHO air quality guidelines. The study stated that air pollution accounts for almost one in 10 deaths in children under five.

via Air pollution kills a child every 3 minutes in India

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Indian capital’s air quality plunges despite new measures

Posted on October 17, 2019 by Respro® UK Ltd

The Indian capital’s air quality levels plunged to “poor” on Wednesday, a day after the government initiated stricter measures to fight chronic air pollution.

The state-run Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality index for New Delhi stood at 299, about six times the recommended level.

“People can’t breathe properly,” said Inderjeet Gupta, an ice cream vendor outside the famous India Gate.

India is home to the world’s 14 most polluted cities, with New Delhi the sixth-worst. A sharp increase in vehicle and industrial emissions, pollutants released from holiday firecrackers and dust from building sites increases pollution in the city of more than 20 million people during the onset of winters, exacerbating what is already a public health crisis.

In a bid to deal with the pollution, the government on Tuesday said it was instituting measures meant to discourage private vehicles on roads, increase bus and metro services and stop the use of diesel generators.

While many factors contribute to the severe air pollution in New Delhi, researchers say crop burning in neighboring states is responsible for almost 10 percent of the city’s pollution.

October is the time of year when farmers in the neighboring states of Haryana, Punjab and nearby bordering regions set fire to their post-harvest fields that need clearing for the next crop season, despite there being a ban on it.

Smoke from these states travels to New Delhi, leading to a surge in pollution levels.

Punjab alone generates almost 20 million tons of crop waste every year, three-quarters of which is then burned. A cheap and effective method of clearing the land, the burning has the benefit of killing pests that eat crops and it converts the residue into fertilizing ash. But the smoke it emits can cause respiratory illnesses.

On a recent evening in Punjab’s Amritsar city, farmers were burning the crop waste and flaming carpets of golden residue belched white smoke into the sky along vast paddy fields.

Farmers continue to defy the ban in part due to a lack of financial incentives. Efforts by the government to curb the practice have also met with very little success.

“I agree that burning the stubble is not the right thing to do but what else can the poor farmers do?” said Ravi Kahlo, a farmer.

The burning takes place twice a year after the harvest of wheat in April and May and of rice in October and November. It is only during the latter season when Delhi’s air quality deteriorates because of specific meteorological conditions.

Satellite images recorded scores of farm fires across Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday.

Researchers say crop burning is responsible for almost 10 percent of the pollution in New Delhi.

The Punjab government has launched mobile applications aimed at checking crop residue burning, promised to provide modern farm equipment to the state’s farmers with a subsidy, and implemented stringent laws to achieve the task of zero crop burning.

via Indian capital’s air quality plunges despite new measures | The Japan Times

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