According to a major study released on Thursday, air pollution is responsible for more than 7% of all deaths in ten of the largest cities in India. As a result, scientists are urging action to prevent the loss of tens of thousands of lives each year.
Smog-filled Indian cities, including the nation’s capital Delhi, are home to some of the worst air pollution in the world, which causes inhabitants’ lungs to become choked and poses a growing health risk that is currently being discovered by studies.
An Indian-led team conducted a new study that examined the concentrations of PM2.5 pollutants—microparticles believed to cause cancer—in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Shimla, and Varanasi.
According to the study, from 2008 to 2019, exposure to PM2.5 above the World Health Organization’s recommended level of 15 micrograms per cubic meter was linked to more than 33,000 deaths annually.
The study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal states that this amounts to 7.2 percent of the deaths that were reported in those cities during that time.
Delhi, the capital of India, was the greatest offender, accounting for 12,000 annual deaths from air pollution, or 11.5 percent of all deaths.
However, the researchers emphasized that significant death rates were seen in places like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, where air pollution is not as terrible.
They demanded that India’s air quality regulations be strengthened.
The current recommended in the nation is four times higher than the WHO’s recommendations, at 60 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter.
Harvard University co-author Joel Schwartz of the study stated that lowering and enforcing the restriction “will save tens of thousands of lives per year”.
There are pollution control techniques that are employed elsewhere. They must be implemented immediately in India,” he declared in a statement.
Nearly everyone on Earth, according to the WHO, breaths in more air pollution than is advised, which increases the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, strokes, and other respiratory illnesses.
