Surgeons today rarely come across pink and healthy lungs in the city and even if there are any they would be in people that have been living in the clean air of the hills, said Dr. Anurag Agrawal, director of CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, on Monday.
Speaking at a discussion on ‘Air Pollution – A Public Health Emergency’, organised at the American Centre, Mr. Agrawal said: “The fine particulate matter that is suspended in the air gets trapped in the lungs and has the ability to cause much damage to the body.” He added that every third child in Delhi has impaired lungs.
Lower lung function
The discussion was held to examine long-term implications of prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter and other airborne pollutants.
“Though there are surveys which show that Indian children have lower lung function when compared to their western counterpart the problem isn’t related to pollution alone and the problem isn’t with India alone. In fact, 30% of people in South Asia have lower lung function due to various reasons,” he added.
Talking about the benefits of air purifiers and masks, Mr. Agrwal said that they don’t offer complete protection “but then something is better than nothing and people should know that even a little will go a long way in ensuring healthier lungs”.
The discussion also saw the participation of Dr. Srikanth Nadadur, director of External Environmental Cardiopulmonary Health Research with NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and Bhargav Krishna from the Public Health Foundation of India.
Need green space
“There are studies that show that proximity and easy access to green space results in lower levels of depression and blood pressure,” said Mr. Krishna, adding that most studies in India are based on RSPM, SPM and PM10 levels and there is little to no examination of cardio-metabolic diseases.
