Pollution Archives - Iran News Daily

Link between Air Pollution, Early Death Stronger Than Before

reporter 1222 — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 13:08:47 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – A new study by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health provides the most comprehensive evidence to date of the causal link between long-term exposure to fine particulate (PM2.5) air pollution and premature death.

“Our new study included the largest-ever dataset of older Americans and used multiple analytical methods, including statistical methods for causal inference, to show that current US standards for PM2.5 concentrations are not protective enough and should be lowered to ensure that vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, are safe,” said doctoral student Xiao Wu, a co-author of the study, MedicalXpress reported.

The new research builds on a 2017 study that showed that long-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution and ozone, even at levels below current US air quality standards, increases the risk of premature death among the elderly in the US.

For the new study, researchers looked at 16 years’ worth of data from 68.5 million Medicare enrollees—97% of Americans over the age of 65—adjusting for factors such as body mass index, smoking, ethnicity, income, and education. They matched participants’ zip codes with air pollution data gathered from locations across the US In estimating daily levels of PM2.5 air pollution for each zip code, the researchers also took into account satellite data, land-use information, weather variables, and other factors. They used two traditional statistical approaches as well as three state-of-the-art approaches aimed at teasing out cause and effect.

Results were consistent across all five different types of analyses, offering what authors called “the most robust and reproducible evidence to date” on the causal link between exposure to PM2.5 and mortality among Medicare enrollees—even at levels below the current US air quality standard of 12 μg/m3 (12 micrograms per cubic meter) per year.

The authors found that an annual decrease of 10 μg/m3 in PM2.5 pollution would lead to a 6%-7% decrease in mortality risk. Based on that finding, they estimated that if the US lowered its annual PM2.5 standard to 10 μg/m3—the WHO annual guideline—143,257 lives would be saved in one decade.

The authors included additional analyses focused on causation, which address criticisms that traditional analytical methods are not sufficient to inform revisions of national air quality standards. The new analyses enabled the researchers, in effect, to mimic a randomized study—considered the gold standard in assessing causality—thereby strengthening the finding of a link between air pollution and early death.

“The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed retaining current national air quality standards. But, as our new analysis shows, the current standards aren’t protective enough, and strengthening them could save thousands of lives. With the public comment period for the EPA proposal ending on June 29, we hope our results can inform policymakers’ decisions about potentially updating the standards,” said co-author Francesca Dominici, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population, and Data Science.

The post Link between Air Pollution, Early Death Stronger Than Before appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Air pollution linked to higher COVID-19 death rate

reporter 1222 — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 06:04:30 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – High levels of air pollution may be “one of the most important contributors” to deaths from COVID-19, according to research.

The analysis shows that of the COVID-19 deaths across 66 administrative regions in Italy, Spain, France, and Germany, 78% of them occurred in just five regions, and these had the most air pollution, The Guardian reported.

The research examined levels of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant produced mostly by diesel vehicles, and weather conditions that can prevent dirty air from dispersing away from a city. Many studies have linked NO2 exposure to health damage, and particularly lung disease, which could make people more likely to die if they contract COVID-19.

“The results indicate that long-term exposure to this pollutant may be one of the most important contributors to fatality caused by the COVID-19 virus in these regions and maybe across the whole world,” said Yaron Ogen, at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany, who conducted the research. “Poisoning our environment means poisoning our own body, and when it experiences chronic respiratory stress its ability to defend itself from infections is limited.”

The analysis is only able to show a strong correlation, not a causal link. “It is now necessary to examine whether the presence of an initial inflammatory condition is related to the response of the immune system to the coronavirus,” Ogen said.

A separate study published on 7 April looked at fine particle pollution in the US and found that even small increases in levels in the years before the pandemic were associated with far higher COVID-19 death rates. Another recent paper noted that the high death rates seen in the north of Italy correlated with the highest levels of air pollution.

The new research, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, compared NO2 levels in January and February in 66 administrative regions with COVID-19 deaths recorded up to 19 March. Ogen also assessed the atmospheric conditions to see where pollution was being trapped over the regions.

He found that 78% of the 4,443 deaths were in four regions in northern Italy and one around Madrid in Spain. These five regions had the worst combination of NO2 levels and airflow conditions that prevented dispersal of air pollution.

Ogen noted that the Po Valley in Italy and Madrid were surrounded by mountains, which helps trap pollution, as is Hubei province in China, where the pandemic began. “However, my research is only an initial indication that there might be a correlation between the level of air pollution, air movement and the severity of the course of the corona outbreaks,” he said.

Prof Jonathan Grigg, from Queen Mary University of London, said the study showed an association between COVID-19 deaths and NO2 levels. “This association could reflect a causal link between exposure to air pollution and increased vulnerability to fatal COVID infection, but other factors cannot be ruled out at this stage. For example, the study does not adjust for differences in age distribution in different areas.”

Widespread lockdowns around the world have led to reduced vehicle traffic and air pollution. However, long-term exposure to dirty air before the pandemic may be more important than current levels of pollution.

In the UK, NO2 has been at illegal levels in most urban areas for the last decade. A key policy to reduce NO2 levels is the introduction of clean air zones, where charges are imposed to deter the most polluting vehicles from city centers. But the introduction of some CAZs has been postponed because of the coronavirus crisis.

Jenny Bates, an air pollution campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “This new study is worrying. We know NO2 is a toxic gas that inflames the lining of the lungs and reduces immunity to lung infections, so it may not be surprising that people who have suffered in areas with high levels of NO2 could be more susceptible to coronavirus.

“This is all the more reason to keep traffic and pollution levels down as much as possible now and get out of this terrible situation with a view to fewer but cleaner vehicles on the road.”

The post Air pollution linked to higher COVID-19 death rate appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Severe pollution shuts down schools in Tehran again

reporter 1222 — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 09:40:43 +0000

Schools in Tehran will be closed on Tuesday due to severe air pollution.

Tehran’s Air Pollution Emergency Committee has announced as Tehran’s air pollution continues, all schools in the capital city except in Firuzkuh, Damavand and Pardis will be closed on Tuesday.

Tehran Governor Mohammad Hossein Moghimi chaired the committee’s meeting. The committee comprises three lawmakers, three members of City Council, Tehran’s mayor and governor.

The committee also decided that daily traffic permits will not be sold on Tuesday. Furthermore, it decided that odd-even traffic scheme will be enforced right from the doors of residential homes.

The post Severe pollution shuts down schools in Tehran again appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Senior officials to meet on Tehran pollution, earthquake

reporter 1222 — Sat, 23 Dec 2017 12:47:44 +0000

TEHRAN – Heads of three branches of government – the judicial, the executive and the legislative, will hold a meeting within a month to review proposals addressing the pollution and earthquake preparedness in the cosmopolitan Tehran.

A member of Parliament’s board of directors, Mohammad Ali Vakili, told reporters on Saturday that a joint strategic committee has been formed between the Parliament and City Council about three months ago and has held several weekly meetings since then on finding solutions to Tehran’s pollution and the earthquake crisis and response.

The committee comprises three lawmakers, three members of City Council, Tehran’s mayor and governor, he added.

“The committee has prepared a package containing several strategic proposals on combating pollution in Tehran and ways to respond to the crisis in the wake of an earthquake, which will be presented to the heads of the three branches of government in a meeting to be held within the next month,” he said.

According to him, the heads of the three branches of government, including President Rouhani, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Judiciary chief Ayatollah Amoli Larijani, will review the package and make necessary decisions on its implementation.

Tehran has been going through alarming levels of air pollution for the past week, coming to a head in a 5.2 earthquake on Wednesday that caused even more room for concern about the capital’s level of preparedness in the face of such crises.

Tehran is sitting on about 30 fault lines from north to the south. An earthquake that would activate any of these fault lines is feared to leave devastating damage on the capital’s infrastructure and cause horrendous death and destruction.

The post Senior officials to meet on Tehran pollution, earthquake appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Iran, Japan ink MoU to reduce air pollution in Tehran

reporter 1222 — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 17:45:18 +0000

TEHRAN – Tehran Municipality and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to control air pollution in the Iranian capital.

Vahid Hosseini, Managing Director of Tehran Air Quality Control Company, made the announcement explaining that the cooperation agreement aimed at boosting collaboration on scientific, educational and equipment sectors to contain the capital’s air pollution for a period of four years.

He noted that the deal would be implemented by Tehran Air Quality Control Company as a subsidiary of Tehran Municipality as well as JICA who represent the Japanese side.

The official recalled that JICA has carried out various environmental projects in developing countries like Iran one instance being the attempt to revive Lake Urmia.

“The present agreement was developed over two years,” highlighted Hosseini asserting that “accordingly, Iranian and Japanese experts will seek to resolve the challenge by initially identifying primary sources of pollution and then taking steps to eliminate them.

The official later explained that the Iranian side will pay nothing for the project while the Japanese government will pay seven million dollars to JICA in exchange for nothing.

He later pointed to transfer of equipment and know-how to Iran saying “government of Japan has approved of supplying equipment to Iran and air analysis equipment worth 13 million dollars will arrive under a separate deal between Tehran Municipality and the Japanese government.”

Also at the MoU-signing ceremony, President of JICA office in Iran, Yukiharu Kobayashi, said “under terms of the agreement, Japanese experts will provide Iranian experts with knowledge and experience on reducing air pollution.”

In recent years, Air pollution has tuned into a major challenge to the Iranian government who has used various strategies to curb the challenge like implementing odd-even scheme under which cars with license plates ending in odd numbers will be kept indoors and vice versa.

Nevertheless, these measures were not enough to tackle the issue and the country has decided to form a deal with a foreign company to resolve the problem.

The post Iran, Japan ink MoU to reduce air pollution in Tehran appeared first on Iran News Daily.