Air Pollution Raise Mortality Risk: Toxic air is hazardous to health. You may have heard it many times, but a recent study revealed that the toxic PM 2.5 particles in the air are increasing the risk of death among Indians. If the concentration of PM 2.5 in the air increases by 10 micrograms per cubic meter, the mortality rate increases by 8.6 percent. The study is published in the Lancet Planetary Health magazine. It states that PM 2.5 pollution causes around 15 lakh deaths every year in India. These deaths are caused by prolonged exposure to pollution levels above the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended level of 5 micrograms per cubic meter. In simple language increasing pollution is taking lives of Indians.
According to this study, about 1.4 billion people in India live in areas where PM 2.5 concentrations exceed the WHO limit. This means that most Indians are exposed to high levels of air pollution, which is having a serious impact on their health. Commenting on the findings, Suganthi Jagannathan, a doctoral researcher at Ashoka University’s Center for Health Analytics Research and Trends, said that high levels of PM 2.5 in India are leading to a drastic increase in mortality and indicate that more efforts are being made against pollution.
The study also revealed that although the risk is high even at low levels of air pollution, there is an urgent need to reduce its levels. Especially in areas where pollution is already at a high level. According to the study, 25 percent of all deaths (about 1.5 million deaths) between 2009 and 2019 were caused by high PM 2.5 concentrations, which exceeded WHO guidelines. In addition, about 0.3 million deaths are attributed to annual exposure to PM 2.5 above the Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAQS).
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health professor and lead investigator Joel Schwartz said on this matter that there is a lot of discussion about pollution in Delhi, but the problem of air pollution is spread throughout India. He said that efforts should be made all over India to solve this problem. He also suggested that scrubbers are required in coal burning power plants, crop burning should be limited and most importantly immediate steps need to be taken to protect public health.
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