Down To Earth recaps the primary environment, health and developmental news from 2022
Air pollution continued to be a hot topic of discussion in 2022. As we enter 2023, here is a selection of articles published by Down To Earth on various aspects of the air pollution issue that featured in public discourse this year:
Experts told Down To Earth in October that India had not even made an explicit linkage of air pollution with health. This was why mortality due to it was not recognised as such and consequently went unnoticed. Also, some of the most detrimental impact of this was borne by the country’s children, they added.
The experts’ comments came even as Delhi yet again turned into a gas chamber after Diwali.
Read more: Air pollution kills our children; and it isn’t even acknowledged
It is not just children. Increased exposure to traffic-related particulate matters may raise the risk of developing dementia, a meta-analysis published in October had noted.
Read more: Exposure to vehicular pollution may increase risk of dementia
Worsening air pollution is robbing a decade of the life expectancy of those living in Delhi, the world’s most polluted city and India’s capital, according to a new analysis published by the University of Chicago in June this year. Indians, on average, are losing about five years.
Read more: ‘Air pollution cuts India’s average life expectancy by 5 years’
A new study published in March this year in Chemosphere, a peer-reviewed journal on chemicals in the environment, recorded an unusual increase in particulate matter (PM) during the second wave lockdown.
Read more: Did unprecedented Covid deaths, funerals cause spike in Delhi’s pollution levels during second wave
In April this year, the World Health Organization said around 99 per cent of the global population breathe unhealthy air.
Read more: Almost entire global population breathes unhealthy air: WHO
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