She sneezes. Her throat scratches. Her nose runs. From the moment her
husband returns from work, the symptoms hit her.
Anu
Jain Rohatgi
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Chicken.
Chicken, who?
Chicken allergy.
Renu has it. Forty years old, living in Delhi that has just been
declared the most polluted capital in the world, Renu has problem breathing.
She sneezes. Her throat scratches. Her nose runs. From the moment her husband
returns from work, the symptoms hit her. They spent a lot of money on tests and
visits to experts. Renu is no great believer in coincidences. Until she
consulted Dr Bharat Gopal, HoD of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the
Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, Delhi.
He diagnosed her condition as ‘chicken allergy’. Her husband owned a
chicken farm. Though she had no direct contact with poultry, he would return
from the farm with chicken hair, excreta and dead bird skin on his clothes that
gave his wife allergy. Air pollution kills seven million people globally every
year, of which four million die from indoor air pollution. A polluted city is a
fatal city and indoor pollution is a bigger killer than lung disease. Reasons?
Use of biofuels in cooking in villages. Smoking. Resins, waxes, polishing
materials, cosmetics, and binders. Biological pollutants are dust mites, molds,
pollen, and infectious agents in stagnant water, mattresses, carpets, and
humidifiers.
India’s indoor pollution crisis is largely caused by using wrong cooking
fuel. Three billion people don’t have access to clean fuel and cooking
technology. In India, 49 percent of people use firewood to cook. The biomass
lashback from fuel such as coal is deadly. The fallout is worst on women and
children, since they spend longer time indoors. The World Health Organisation
(WHO) notes indoor air pollution causes two million pre-mature deaths every
year, of which 44 percent die of pneumonia, 54 percent of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease and 2 percent of lung cancer.
Dr KK Agarwal, Senior Medicine Consultant and President of Heart Care
Foundation of India, smells a rat. Quite a few of us use perfumes, deodorants,
nail paints and other cosmetics, without realising their effect on indoor
pollution. “Fragrance often triggers respiratory problems and allergies,” he
says. A patient of his, a young woman, had a persistent dry cough and cold. The
tests didn’t offer any solutions. Ultimately, he zeroed in on a particular perfume
she liked to wear before going out. “We ran a few specific allergy tests on her
and found that she was allergic to it. She stopped using it and that was the
end of the problem,” smiles Dr Agarwal.
Enemy Within
Almost anything and everything in a house can lead to indoor pollution—from
household cleaning agents, to wood, paints, building material, floor tiles and
carpets. Lead, which is most commonly found in paints, can cause brain and
nerve damage; an excess in the blood can also lead to kidney failure. Blame the
Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs—comprising carbon tetrachloride,
ethylbenzene, benzene, trichloroethane, xylenes, toluene, trichloroethylene,
styrene that shoot up gases and particles into the air.
There are two types of VOCs: aroma producing agents such as room
fresheners, insect repellents, cleaning products, disinfectants, cosmetics and
deodorants, dry-cleaned clothes, new furnishings, upholstery, carpeting,
woodwork and paint. The other variety comes from furniture, pesticides and such.
Smoke from tobacco, cooking oil and stoves are the major culprits behind
pneumonia, bronchitis, cardiac diseases and in some cases, lung cancer.
Dry-cleaned clothes pick up trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene—a form of
VOC that is highly toxic.
“Biological agents such as fungus, viruses, bacteria, dust mites, not to
mention TB and flu patients, cause indoor pollution,” says Dr Dipankar Saha,
former additional director with the Central Pollution Control Board. City life
comes with its own problems. Random household appliances such as water heaters,
dryers, stationery, printers, fluid, glue, craft materials and office machines
release different gases and fine particles. Humidity and the wrong temperature
are responsible as well. If doctors and environmental stats are to be believed,
it is as if we are trapped at home in an unknown hell; air conditioners drag in
and circulate outdoor pollutants indoor, adds Dr Saha.
Delhi girl Sonia’s problem was puppy love. She persuaded her parents to
get her a dog and spent most of her time with it. But her joy was short-lived.
Within a month, cough, breathlessness, tiredness and other asthma symptoms
cropped up. “After thorough investigation we realised that she was allergic to
dog hair,” explains Dr R S Mishra, Medicine Consultant at Max Super Speciality
Hospital, Saket, Delhi. “Every month we get a couple of patients whose pets are
causing allergies and respiratory problems,” he adds.
The Danger zone
People spend on an average around 70-90 percent of their lifespan indoors—home,
school, office, restaurant, mall, cinema hall or at other such places. A study
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicates that in America, 93
percent of people spend their life indoors. Another study by the US
Environmental Protection Agency reveals that indoor pollution is about five
times more dangerous than outdoor pollution. Awareness has led to the air
purifier market in Delhi growing from just `75 crore in 2015 to around `500
crore in 2018. The air quality monitoring market is predicted to surpass $4.5
billion by 2025 due to excessive presence of chemical pollutants such as
carbon dioxide, carbon monoxides, formaldehydes, VOCs, ozone, etc. in the
vicinity of residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings.
Builders are changing the look of Delhi colonies, buying cheap at this time
when the real estate market is stressed, and expanding the floors. As a result
‘poor ventilation’ is another direct cause for indoor pollution. This is more
true at the work place. Signs are poor concentration, fatigue and sleepiness.
Cause: rise in CO2 levels within the office premises.
Recently, a study conducted by the India Pollution Control Association
(IPCA)across 13 buildings in Delhi found that CO2 levels were steeper than the
permissible limit in many corporate offices. The study, conducted between
January and September, also reveals that the air in these buildings was loaded
not only with VOC, CO2, but also with viruses, bacteria, pollen and plant
fibre. “We found that these biological particles were twice the safety level,”
says Radha Goyal, Deputy Director, IPCA. “Most of these buildings have central
air conditioning, because of which the windows and doors are kept completely
sealed. They are never opened. This leads to the concentration of gases and
higher levels of CO2,” she adds.
An Old War
Delhi has done it yet again. According to the latest data compiled in the IQAir
AirVisual 2018 World Air Quality Report, prepared in collaboration with
Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Delhi is at the top of the most polluted capitals
across the world. Not just that, India also boasts of 15 of the 20 most
polluted cities in the world. The Delhi-NCR region is the worst-affected.
Gurugram and Ghaziabad have topped the list of the most polluted cities,
followed by Faridabad, Bhiwadi and Noida. In fact, there are only three
non-India cities in the top 10: Faisalabad and Lahore in Pakistan at number
three and 10, respectively; and Hotan in China at number eight. Greenpeace
predicts grimly that air pollution will take an estimated seven million lives
globally next year, while costing the world’s economy nearly $225 billion.
The report measures air quality in terms of PM2.5 data as aggregated
through the IQAir AirVisual platform in 2018. The report is based on air
quality data collected in 2018 from public monitoring sources in real-time.
“These sources include government monitoring networks as well as validated data
from air quality monitors operated by private individuals and organisations,”
the report states. Of the over 3,000 cities in the survey, 64 percent exceeded
the WHO’s annual exposure guideline for fine particulate matter.
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi has flagged off
initiatives to drive transition to electric mobility and fight air pollution
caused by vehicular emissions. It recently earmarked `100 crore for electric
vehicles (EVs) in the annual budget for 2019-20. Charging stations are being
planned at public areas such as government offices, metro stations in Dwarka,
market places such as Sarojini Nagar and others, in an effort to boost the move
towards EVs.
The government has also approved deployment of 1,000 low-floor electric
buses. Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and
Tamil Nadu have earlier introduced electric buses in their public transport
fleet to concur with the Central government’s mission of increasing electric
mobility among people. The Centre plans to make at least 30 percent of the
total vehicle traffic in India electric by 2030.
Zeroing in on the Cause
Apart from fatal biofuel use in villages, urban India’s living and working
spaces are unsafe, too. The US National Cancer Institute says that kitchen
counter tops, basements and storage places are sources of radon gas, which is
the second leading cause of lung cancer in America. Recently, a study conducted
by Delhi University’s Environmental Science Department on 900 people from
different social sections over five years indicated that both high and low-level
income groups suffered from respiratory problems. In the former, indoor
pollution levels rose in the evenings caused by faulty cooking methods, poor
ventilation, et al. In the latter strata, it was higher in the mornings and
nights because of chemicals and air conditioning.
The perennial culprit—stubble burning—has repercussions on health inside
the house too. A study by US-based International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI) and partner institutes states that its economic cost for Punjab, Haryana
and Delhi is around `2 lakh crore a year. Experts say it elevates the risk of
lung cancer, stroke, heart attack and respiratory diseases, including asthma,
among all age groups. The report identifies some of the major sources or causes
of ambient air pollution. “Industries, households, cars, and trucks emit
complex mixtures of air pollutants, many of which are harmful to health. Of all
these pollutants, fine particulate matter has the greatest effect on human
health,” it says. “Most fine particulate matter comes from fuel combustion,
both from mobile sources such as vehicles and from stationary sources such as
power plants, industry, households, agriculture or biomass burning,” the report
adds.
Step Forward
To lower indoor pollution may not be child’s play, but it isn’t rocket science
either. The first and foremost thing needed is proper ventilation across all
buildings. Good ventilation lowers moisture and CO2 levels and also brings down
concentration of VOC within the premises. “It is unfortunate that most of us do
not even think about proper ventilation while designing residential and
commercial structures,” says Mukesh Khare, professor of Civil Engineering in
IIT, Delhi. In 2017, a Ministry of Environment and Forests committee under his
chairmanship established the parameters to check indoor air pollution and
formulated guidelines to control it. “We need to start ‘occupancy level
surveys’ in malls, schools and hospitals to monitor and control indoor air
pollution. Most importantly, we need to create awareness about keeping indoor
air clean,” Khare says.
People should be taught alternate methods of cleaning the house
and use environmentally friendly products, explains Dr Saha. Keeping indoor
plants that release oxygen at night is a rising awareness trend in cities. As
executive director of Greenpeace South East Asia, Yeb Sano, said in a
statement, “Air pollution steals our livelihoods and our futures, but we can
change that. In addition to human lives lost, there’s an estimated global cost
of $225 billion in lost labour and trillions in medical costs. This has
enormous impacts, on our health and on our wallets.”Home is where the heart is.
It is also where the lungs are.
Home Toxic Home
In India, of 0.2 billion people using fuel for cooking, 49 percent use
firewood, 8.9 percent use cow dung cakes, 1.5 percent use coal, lignite, or
charcoal, 2.9 percent use kerosene, and 0.5 percent adopt other means. Only
28.6 percent use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 0.1 percent electricity, 0.4
percent biogas. Each year, close to four million people die pre-maturely from
illness attributable to household air pollution.
It causes non-communicable diseases including stroke, ischaemic heart
disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. Close to half
the deaths due to pneumonia among children under five years are caused by
particulate matter (soot) inhaled from household air pollution. It is also a
risk factor for acute lower respiratory infections in adults, and contributes
to 28 percent of all adult deaths to pneumonia.
Twelve percent of all pre-mature deaths due to stroke can be attributed
to the daily exposure to household air pollution arising from cooking with
solid fuels and kerosene. Approximately 17 percent of pre-mature lung cancer
deaths in adults are attributable to exposure to carcinogens from household air
pollution caused by cooking with kerosene or solid fuels like wood, charcoal or
coal. The risk for women is higher, due to their role in food preparation.
More generally, small particulate matter and other pollutants in indoor
smoke inflame the airways and lungs, impairing immune response and reducing the
oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. There is also evidence of links between
household air pollution and low birth weight, tuberculosis, cataract,
nasopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers
Reproduced
from: http://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/2019/mar/10/every-breath-you-take-1947704.html,
published 10th March 2019
