Air pollution In India

India’s toxic air is its most immediate

environmental problem

Even as the country pledges climate action, its people

are dying from breathing

Exposure to high levels of air pollution can make children obese and put them at

greater risk of asthma, a new study has found.

The study said obese children had a 79% greater chance of having asthma.

This association was highest seen in Delhi, which experiences hazardous air quality every

year.

And while there could be many causes for obesity in children, "ambient air pollution

could be an important contributing factor", it said.

The study by the Lung Care Foundation and Pulmocare Research and Education is the

first in India to establish a link between overweight children, asthma and air pollution.

Experts have long warned that prolonged exposure to unclean air could lead to

respiratory illnesses, especially among children. They say urgent action is required to

protect them.Lung Care Foundation looked at 3,157 children in 12 schools - selected at random - from

Delhi, and southern Indian cities of Kottayam and Mysuru - both of which have relatively

cleaner air.

It found that 39.8% children from Delhi were overweight as compared to 16.4% in

Kottayam and Mysuru.

This correlates "very well" with the reported particulate matter (PM2.5) - dangerous tiny

pollutants in the air - levels found in these cities, the study said.

Delhi is among the most polluted cities in the world.

Every year, air pollution there climbs to levels around nine times more than what the

World Health Organization (WHO) considers safe, as a thick blanket of smog - fed by

agriculture fires and festive fireworks - engulfs the city.

Dr Sundeep Salvi, director of Pulmocare Research and Education (PURE) Foundation in

the western city of Pune, said the research confirms that breathing such unclean air can

make children fat.

He said that pollutants in the air contain certain chemicals, known as obesogens, that

can alter a person's metabolism.

"When a person breathes polluted air, these obesogens enter the body. This messes up

the endocrine system and leads to obesity," Dr Salvi told the BBC.

Delhi experiences dense smog every year during the winter season

Dr

E Salvi said that children are especially vulnerable because their intake of air is higher asThe study also found that school children in Delhi have "significantly higher prevalence"

of asthma and allergy symptoms - such as itchy watery eyes, cough and rash - as

compared to those in Kottayam and Mysuru.

At least 29.3% children from Delhi were found to have airflow obstruction or asthma

during a breathing test as compared to 22.6% children in Kottayam and Mysuru.

This difference was despite the fact that the two main factors associated with childhood

asthma - family history of the disease and a smoker in the family - were more prevalent

in the southern cities, researchers said.

Dr Arvind Kumar, the founder trustee of Lung Care Foundation, called the study "eye-

opener".

"It has shown an unacceptably high prevalence of respiratory and allergic symptoms,

spirometry-defined asthma, and obesity in Delhi children," he said.

And air pollution is "the probable link with all three".

"It is high time that the air pollution issue in Delhi and other cities is settled in a

systematic manner to save the future of our children," he said. 

Article by:-

Chetan sharma