Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has claimed that there is "no conclusive information" available with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) regarding high prevalence of respiratory or other diseases caused by air pollution.
Link to the article in Times of India
Azad was replying to a question in Parliament on February 18. However, a large-scale study sponsored by CPCB and conducted by Kolkata's Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute indicated that air pollution compromised lung function of children in Delhi.
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"Clearly, this official denial of mounting evidence, both locally and globally, is holding up action against air pollution in the country and aggravating public health risk," said Anumita Roychowdhury of Centre for Science an Environment (CSE). Roychowdhury quoted Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2013 report which estimated that 6,20,000 premature deaths occur in India from air pollution-related diseases each year. This is six-fold increase from 1,00,000 deaths in 2000. In 2013, World Health Organization classified outdoor air pollution to be carcinogenic.
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Pulmonologists and chest medicine experts were shocked at the minister's comments. According to Dr Arup Kumar Basu, chairperson of department of chest medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, there are umpteen studies that correlate respiratory illnesses with air pollution.
"There are very eloquent studies done in Bangalore that have compared OPD visits for respiratory problems with the increase in automobile registrations. It has exponential curve. There is a clear relationship between childhood asthma and high levels of sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and suspended particulate matter (SPM) from diesel vehicles," said Basu. SPM levels more than 10 PPM, for instance, are linked to conditions of the upper airways.
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Basu noticed respiratory illnesses increase during winter when the air is calm and SPM levels are high near the ground level. "The hot air in summer is like a honeymoon period for patients in Delhi because they gradually recover. But in winter, ICU admissions go up. I think the minister can say what he thinks but there is not much doubt that these illnesses are increasing because of air pollution," he stated.
The minister also said in his reply that Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) has no information on the number of cases and deaths due to air pollution in India. As for action to deal with air pollution-related diseases he said, "The government is implementing National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for prevention and control of various diseases."
Experts like Sarath Guttikunda, director, urbanemissions.info said he wouldn't take the minister's comment seriously. "There are plenty of studies both international and Indian that suggest that respiratory illnesses because of air pollution are increasing. Impact of air pollution in the form of respiratory illnesses, cardiac conditions on pregnant women and children is well documented. In the late 2000's for instance Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA) program conducted studies on impact of air pollution in Delhi and Chennai," he said.
Shreekant Gupta, an academic also said that there is inconvertible evidence that air pollution impacts health. "CPCB's own data shows PM 2.5 (fine, respirable particles) to be way higher than the safe standard for breathing," he said.
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