NEW DELHI: A new study conducted by the researchers of the Mumbai-based International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and other scientific institutions shows that the air pollution in India poses a significant threat to human health, leading to a substantial rise in mortality observed for all age‐groups in the districts with the critical pollutant PM2.5 levels exceeding the acceptable limit under the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS).
The study, using the govt mortality and socio-demographic data from the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) 2019-2021, shows the highest over two fold increase (119%) in the odds of mortality (risk) among children in the age group of one to five years followed by 104% rise in infants up to one year, 86% increase in newborns less than 30 days old and 13% rise in adults in the districts where the PM2.5 levels crossed the acceptable annual average limit of 40 μg/m3. The statistical comparison was made from the districts where the PM2.5 levels remained within 10 μg/m3.
If one looks at PM2.5 data of major cities, the finding means that such a mortality risk can be noticed in many big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Kolkata, Patna, Ranchi and Ahmedabad among others where the pollutant levels crossed the acceptable limits even during the Covid pandemic year.
The study, published last week in the journal GeoHealth, took both the ambient and household air pollutant data from the Greenhouse Gas Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies model and correlated it with the NFHS data to arrive at its conclusion saying the “interaction between elevated PM2.5 levels and household air pollution further amplifies mortality risks”..
The scientific findings of IIPS study assume significance as the govt has invariably denied any direct link of air pollution with mortality. During the budget session in July, the environment ministry in written response to a question said, “There is no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death exclusively with air pollution.
“Air pollution is one of the many factors affecting respiratory ailments and associated diseases. Health is impacted by a number of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc., of the individuals apart from the environment.”
The ministry’s response came to a question on the study published in The Lancet Planetary Health Journal that claimed that 7.2% of all daily deaths in 10 of the largest and most polluted cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, in India were linked to PM2.5 levels. The ministry noted that the Lancet finding was “based on study conducted using statistical models” and cited its limitations, saying the study was unable to conduct analysis of cause-specific mortality.
Underlining the findings of the IIPS study, Congress member in Rajya Sabha and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday criticised the Centre over its approach to deal with the “rapidly deteriorating air quality” in the country and said, “This government’s modus operandi is to deny that there is a real air pollution-linked mortality problem, underfund programmes targeted at mitigating pollution, fail to utilize the resources that it allocates, and misuse the funds that do get spent.”
Ramesh also suggested eight-point measures to prevent such a crisis in India, saying the first step must be to acknowledge the public health crisis linked to air pollution across wide swathes of India. “We must revisit and totally revamp both the Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act of 1981 and the NAAQS put into effect in November 2009,” he said.
His other suggestions include higher allocation of fund under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), adopting measurement of PM2.5 levels as the yardstick for performance, reorientation of NCAP to focus on all sources of emissions, adoption of airshed approach for air quality control, legal backing to NCAP and strict enforcement of air pollution norms for coal power plants.
Though all air pollutants – nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxides (SO2), volatile organic compounds, and polycyclic aro-matic hydrocarbons – are significantly associated with morbidity and mortality, the fine particulate matter (PM2.5), with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm, has been studied most intensively and used as a representative indicator of exposure to air pollution and its association with various morbidity conditions.
Researchers involved in the study include Mihir Adhikary and Nandita Saikia of the department of public health and mortality at IISA, Mumbai; Pallav Purohit and Wolfgang Schopp of the Pollution Management Research Group, Energy, Climate and Environment (ECE) Programmes, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria; and Vladimir Canudas-Romo of the School of Demography, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Referring to their findings, they suggested the policymakers should focus on reducing the anthropogenic PM2.5 emission at least to reach the NAAQS, which can substantially reduce disease burden and, more precisely, mortality.
The study, using the govt mortality and socio-demographic data from the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) 2019-2021, shows the highest over two fold increase (119%) in the odds of mortality (risk) among children in the age group of one to five years followed by 104% rise in infants up to one year, 86% increase in newborns less than 30 days old and 13% rise in adults in the districts where the PM2.5 levels crossed the acceptable annual average limit of 40 μg/m3. The statistical comparison was made from the districts where the PM2.5 levels remained within 10 μg/m3.
If one looks at PM2.5 data of major cities, the finding means that such a mortality risk can be noticed in many big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Kolkata, Patna, Ranchi and Ahmedabad among others where the pollutant levels crossed the acceptable limits even during the Covid pandemic year.
The study, published last week in the journal GeoHealth, took both the ambient and household air pollutant data from the Greenhouse Gas Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies model and correlated it with the NFHS data to arrive at its conclusion saying the “interaction between elevated PM2.5 levels and household air pollution further amplifies mortality risks”..
The scientific findings of IIPS study assume significance as the govt has invariably denied any direct link of air pollution with mortality. During the budget session in July, the environment ministry in written response to a question said, “There is no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death exclusively with air pollution.
“Air pollution is one of the many factors affecting respiratory ailments and associated diseases. Health is impacted by a number of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc., of the individuals apart from the environment.”
The ministry’s response came to a question on the study published in The Lancet Planetary Health Journal that claimed that 7.2% of all daily deaths in 10 of the largest and most polluted cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, in India were linked to PM2.5 levels. The ministry noted that the Lancet finding was “based on study conducted using statistical models” and cited its limitations, saying the study was unable to conduct analysis of cause-specific mortality.
Underlining the findings of the IIPS study, Congress member in Rajya Sabha and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday criticised the Centre over its approach to deal with the “rapidly deteriorating air quality” in the country and said, “This government’s modus operandi is to deny that there is a real air pollution-linked mortality problem, underfund programmes targeted at mitigating pollution, fail to utilize the resources that it allocates, and misuse the funds that do get spent.”
Ramesh also suggested eight-point measures to prevent such a crisis in India, saying the first step must be to acknowledge the public health crisis linked to air pollution across wide swathes of India. “We must revisit and totally revamp both the Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act of 1981 and the NAAQS put into effect in November 2009,” he said.
His other suggestions include higher allocation of fund under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), adopting measurement of PM2.5 levels as the yardstick for performance, reorientation of NCAP to focus on all sources of emissions, adoption of airshed approach for air quality control, legal backing to NCAP and strict enforcement of air pollution norms for coal power plants.
Though all air pollutants – nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxides (SO2), volatile organic compounds, and polycyclic aro-matic hydrocarbons – are significantly associated with morbidity and mortality, the fine particulate matter (PM2.5), with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm, has been studied most intensively and used as a representative indicator of exposure to air pollution and its association with various morbidity conditions.
Researchers involved in the study include Mihir Adhikary and Nandita Saikia of the department of public health and mortality at IISA, Mumbai; Pallav Purohit and Wolfgang Schopp of the Pollution Management Research Group, Energy, Climate and Environment (ECE) Programmes, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria; and Vladimir Canudas-Romo of the School of Demography, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Referring to their findings, they suggested the policymakers should focus on reducing the anthropogenic PM2.5 emission at least to reach the NAAQS, which can substantially reduce disease burden and, more precisely, mortality.
