Air pollution as bad as smoking a cigarette pack per day
New York, Aug 14: Researchers have found that ozone air pollution which is increasing with climate change can accelerate lung disease as much as that by smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
"We were surprised to see how strong air pollution''s impact was on the progression of emphysema on lung scans, in the same league as the effects of cigarette smoking, which is by far the best-known cause of emphysema," said Joel Kaufman, Professor at the University of Washington.
If you live in areas with increased levels of ozone, researchers found an increase in emphysema roughly the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 29 years.
The study, published in the journal JAMA, demonstrates an association between long-term exposure to major air pollutants - especially ozone - with an increase in emphysema seen on lung scans.
Emphysema is a condition in which destruction of lung tissue leads to wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath and increases the risk of death.
The results are based on an extensive, 18-year study involving more than 7,000 people and a detailed examination of the air pollution they encountered between 2000 and 2018 in six metropolitan regions across the US. The participants were drawn from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Air and Lung studies.
"To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study to assess the association between long-term exposure to air pollutants and progression of percent emphysema in a large, community-based, multi-ethnic cohort," said Meng Wang, Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo.
While most of the airborne pollutants are in decline because of successful efforts to reduce them, ozone has been increasing, researchers said. Ground-level ozone is mostly produced when ultraviolet light reacts with pollutants from fossil fuels.
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Ajit Pawar rues Marathi-speaking areas of Karnataka still not part of Maharashtra
Mumbai, May 1 (PTI): Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said even 65 years after the formation of Maharashtra, there is one regret - that Belgaum and Karwar, parts of adjoining Karnataka, were still not merged with the western Marathi-speaking state.
Speaking at a party event organised on the occasion of Maharashtra Day, Pawar, who heads the ruling NCP, asserted his outfit will not abandon the ideology of legendary social reformers Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and B R Ambedkar.
Recalling the work of chief ministers of Maharashtra from the first CM Yashwantrao Chavan to the incumbent Devendra Fadnavis, Pawar said each one of them have contributed to development of the state since its formation in 1960.
"Maharashtra was formed out of struggle. Even if Maharashtra has completed 65 years of its existence, here is one regret in our hearts. Even today, the Marathi manoos (Marathi-speaking people) of Belgaum and Karwar are still not with us. The case is going on in the Supreme Court.
"The day they are merged with Maharashtra, we can confidently said Maharashtra is now complete," he said.
Maharashtra has been demanding that Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka -- Belgaum, Karwar, Nipani -- be merged with the state, a stand strongly opposed by the southern state.
Pawar noted India's population in 1947 was 35 crore, but it has now multiplied four times to 140 crore. The population of the state has also increased accordingly, he said.
He emphasised that those in power now and in the past have been working to address the water woes of Maharashtra, but with a growing population, the sources have become limited.
The deputy CM said some people oppose the bullet train project in India, but China and Japan have progressed because of such high-speed transport modes.
The erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government (November 2019-June 2022) had stopped the bullet train project connecting Mumbai to Ahmedabad which is currently under construction.
