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India's dirty air deadliest
New Delhi, Feb. 14: India tops the world in the number of premature deaths from air pollution linked to ozone and has also outpaced China in the number of lives lost from tiny inhalable particles, a report released today said.
The State of Global Air 2017 report has estimated that India's ozone deaths rose at a rate of nearly 148 per cent over the past two decades - from 43,500 in 1990 to 1.07 lakh in 2015.
China's ozone deaths have ranged between 65,000 and 75,000 over the corresponding period.
The report documented 8.6 ozone-linked deaths for every one lakh of the country's population in 2015, compared to China's 5.3.
The report from the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and the Health Effects Institute (HEI) said India and China each accounted for about 1.1 million of the 4.2 million deaths worldwide from tiny inhalable particles known as PM2.5 in 2015.
But India's deaths linked to PM2.5 pollution rose by 47 per cent - from 7.37 lakh in 1990 to 10.9 lakh in 2015 - between 1990 and 2015. China's toll rose slower - from 9.45 lakh in 1990 to about 11.08 lakh in 2015, or 17 per cent.
"We see progress in some parts of the world, but serious challenges remain," Dan Greenbaum, the president of the Health Effects Institute, Boston, said in a media release.
Coal-fired power plants, household solid fuels, transportation and burning of agricultural and other wastes are the major contributors to air pollution, the report said.
Environmental analysts said the report's findings on ozone were "scary" and highlighted an air pollutant not given the attention it deserves in India.
Ozone is a gas generated when oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds from vehicular and industrial emissions interact in the presence of sunlight.
"Ozone can aggravate respiratory illnesses, especially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director of the New Delhi-based non-government organisation Centre for Science and Environment. "The rate of increase in ozone deaths in India is scary."
Roy Chowdhury said China's slower rate of increase in PM2.5- and ozone-linked deaths was not surprising.
"We've seen far more stringent action in China than in India. Large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have taken steps, such as investing big in public transport, to reduce air pollution," she told The Telegraph.
"The solutions to curb PM2.5 pollution and ozone pollution are similar - stringent control of emissions from combustion sources including vehicles," Roy Chowdhury added.
The IHME-HEI report has cited improvements in the air quality over Europe and the US. The US Clean Air Act and the European Commission's policies have helped reduce people's exposure to pollution over the past two decades.
The US has experienced a 27 per cent reduction in average yearly population exposures to fine particulate matter, while the declines in Europe have been smaller. Yet, the report has warned that about 88,000 Americans and 258,000 Europeans "still face increased risks of dying early due to PM levels".
https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170215/jsp/frontpage/story_135878.jsp#.WK9WzvmLRaw
New Delhi, Feb. 14: India tops the world in the number of premature deaths from air pollution linked to ozone and has also outpaced China in the number of lives lost from tiny inhalable particles, a report released today said.
The State of Global Air 2017 report has estimated that India's ozone deaths rose at a rate of nearly 148 per cent over the past two decades - from 43,500 in 1990 to 1.07 lakh in 2015.
China's ozone deaths have ranged between 65,000 and 75,000 over the corresponding period.
The report documented 8.6 ozone-linked deaths for every one lakh of the country's population in 2015, compared to China's 5.3.
The report from the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and the Health Effects Institute (HEI) said India and China each accounted for about 1.1 million of the 4.2 million deaths worldwide from tiny inhalable particles known as PM2.5 in 2015.
But India's deaths linked to PM2.5 pollution rose by 47 per cent - from 7.37 lakh in 1990 to 10.9 lakh in 2015 - between 1990 and 2015. China's toll rose slower - from 9.45 lakh in 1990 to about 11.08 lakh in 2015, or 17 per cent.
"We see progress in some parts of the world, but serious challenges remain," Dan Greenbaum, the president of the Health Effects Institute, Boston, said in a media release.
Coal-fired power plants, household solid fuels, transportation and burning of agricultural and other wastes are the major contributors to air pollution, the report said.
Environmental analysts said the report's findings on ozone were "scary" and highlighted an air pollutant not given the attention it deserves in India.
Ozone is a gas generated when oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds from vehicular and industrial emissions interact in the presence of sunlight.
"Ozone can aggravate respiratory illnesses, especially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director of the New Delhi-based non-government organisation Centre for Science and Environment. "The rate of increase in ozone deaths in India is scary."
Roy Chowdhury said China's slower rate of increase in PM2.5- and ozone-linked deaths was not surprising.
"We've seen far more stringent action in China than in India. Large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have taken steps, such as investing big in public transport, to reduce air pollution," she told The Telegraph.
"The solutions to curb PM2.5 pollution and ozone pollution are similar - stringent control of emissions from combustion sources including vehicles," Roy Chowdhury added.
The IHME-HEI report has cited improvements in the air quality over Europe and the US. The US Clean Air Act and the European Commission's policies have helped reduce people's exposure to pollution over the past two decades.
The US has experienced a 27 per cent reduction in average yearly population exposures to fine particulate matter, while the declines in Europe have been smaller. Yet, the report has warned that about 88,000 Americans and 258,000 Europeans "still face increased risks of dying early due to PM levels".
https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170215/jsp/frontpage/story_135878.jsp#.WK9WzvmLRaw
