Decreasing the use of household fuels such as wood, dung, coal, and kerosene could help reduce air pollution-related deaths in India, finds a new study.
Air Pollution causes Irregular Periods in Girls
Teenage girls breathing polluted air, unhealthy eating habits, increased weight gain, less physical activity and poor lifestyle can all lead to irregular periods.
Teenage girls breathing polluted air, unhealthy eating habits, increased weight gain, less physical activity and poor lifestyle can all lead to irregular periods.
‘Controlling emissions from dirty household fuels without any changes to the industrial or vehicle emissions could improve India's air quality standard.’
Read More..
"Household fuels are the single biggest source of outdoor air pollution in India," said Kirk R. Smith, professor of global environmental health at UC Berkeley. Read More..
A study in the Lancet Planetary Health journal last year found that air quality in India is so poor that 1.2 million deaths in the country in 2018 can be attributed to air pollution.
"We looked at what would happen if they only cleaned up households, and we came to this counter-intuitive result that the whole country would reach national air pollution standards if they did that," Smith added in a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Air Pollution May Affect Your Kidneys
Exposure to polluted air which contains harmful toxins can affect your kidneys. Air pollution may increase the risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Exposure to polluted air which contains harmful toxins can affect your kidneys. Air pollution may increase the risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD).
As of early 2016, nearly half of the Indian population was reliant on biomass for household fuel.
Advertisement
Hypertension In Childhood May Be Linked To Air Pollution Exposure In Womb
Babies in the womb exposed to high levels of pollution as a result of their mother’s breathing in polluted air during pregnancy may be at risk of developing childhood hypertension.
Babies in the womb exposed to high levels of pollution as a result of their mother’s breathing in polluted air during pregnancy may be at risk of developing childhood hypertension.
In 2015, India's average annual air pollution level was 55 micrograms per cubic meter (ug m-3) of fine particulate matter.
Advertisement
Air Pollution may Increase Mortality in Older Adults
Short-term exposures to air pollution and warm-season ozone, even below current national air quality standards, are associated with increased risk of mortality.
Short-term exposures to air pollution and warm-season ozone, even below current national air quality standards, are associated with increased risk of mortality.
Complete mitigation of biomass as fuel which could be achieved through widespread electrification and distribution of clean-burning propane to rural areas would cut India's average annual air pollution to 38 ug m-3.
While this is still far above the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 10 ug m-3, it could still have dramatic impacts on the health of the people.
"You can't have a clean environment when about half the houses in India are burning dirty fuels every day," Smith said.
"India has got to do other things to fix air pollution they've got to stop garbage burning; they've got to control the power plants, they've got to control vehicles and so forth.
"But they need to recognize the fact that households are very important contributors to outdoor air pollution, too," he noted.
In 2016, India instituted a national programme to distribute clean-burning stoves and propane to 80 million impoverished households, or about 500 million people.
Smith hopes the findings would bolster support for reducing outdoor air pollution, as well.
Similar programmes have been successful in China, where air pollution is now on the decline in 80 cities.
Source-IANS
