The air of eight cities of the country including capital Dhaka is ‘extremely unhealthy’, according to a study of the Department of Environment.
Physicians say that the extremely polluted air entering the human lungs simply expedites death.
They say the lungs take in some 2,000 litres of air every day and unhealthy substances are entering the human body with the air.
Under the Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (CASE) project, the Department of Environment is examining the air quality almost every day and to that end, the department has set up an air examination centre in Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong, Sylhet, Gazipur and Narayanganj, apart from four other centres in the capital.
The department has prepared the Air Quality Index (AQI) on the basis of five criteria pollutants—Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone (O3). The department has also set national ambient air quality standards for these pollutants. These standards aim to protect against adverse human health impacts.
According to the AQI standard, the department has divided Bangladesh’s air quality into six categories and those are: Good (AQI range 0-50), Moderate (51-100), Caution (101-150), Unhealthy (151-200), Very Unhealthy (201-300) and Extremely Unhealthy (301-500).
The department has put a red mark on Very Unhealthy category and purple mark on Extremely Unhealthy category to make indicate the gravity of adverse human health impacts.
Officials involved in examining the air quality said the air quality has dipped to a new low this winter.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution is one of key reasons for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which is the third leading cause of death worldwide.
WHO says that the disease caused by air pollution is killing people three times higher than that by the three other causes—smoking, road accidents and diabetes—combined.
Associate professor in the National Institute of Chest Diseases & Hospital Kazi Saifuddin Bennur told the Prothom Alo that the COPD is usually caused by smoking in the rural areas, but vehicular and industrial emissions and dust are the major reasons for the COPD in urban areas.
According to the CASE project’s air quality examination station, the AQI range was at 306 in Dhaka on 20 January, at 328 in Chittagong, at 415 in Khulna, at 317 in Gazipur and at 523 in Narayanganj.
Excess presence of Carbon Monoxide, Lead, Nitrogen Oxide, Volatile Organic Compound, Particulate Matter and Sulfer Dioxide pollutes the air quality.
The officials in the Department of Environment (DoE) said air is polluted when roads are dug indiscriminately and construction work is carried out without following necessary instructions.
Air pollution is also caused by the emission from worn-out vehicles. Brick kilns are another leading contributor to air pollution as most of these do not follow DoE’s instructions.
CASE project director, SM Munjurul Hannan Khan, said there are certain laws and rules against air pollution with the provision of punishment. “Even so, we don’t follow the law, despite falling victim to air pollution.”
Source: Prothom Alo
