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Nowadays,
breathing can be dangerous. The air that gives you life is
the same one that can snuff the life out of you.
Air
pollution, or the contamination of the air with harmful
substances, was recognized as a problem in the 13th
century when King Edward of England banned the burning of
sea-coal. But because particles in the air are too minute
to attract real attention, people gave air pollution just
a little thought.
Then acid
rain came and people realized it was unsafe to go singin’
in the rain. The advent of machines during the Industrial
Revolution blew more contaminants in the air until people
realized that the thick “fog” that gave them a Christmas
feeling was actually a grinch called smog that threatened
to steal their Christmases away.
Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s renditions of a foggy
London at the turn of the century could be the earliest
record of the infamous London smog, according to an
analysis of the UK-based scientific journal Royal Society
A.
Nowadays,
the previously insignificant specks in the air we breathe
had become too enormous a problem that has soared to
global scale.
Air
pollution in the
Philippines
A report
of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
in 2004 revealed that certain places in the country
recorded very high levels of deadly particles, with some
even exceeding the National Air Quality (NAAQ) guideline
values in the Philippine Clean Air Act.
Notable
among the deadly particles observed were particulate
matters (PM10 and PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen
dioxide (NO2), nitrogen monoxide (NO), carbon monoxide,
and others.
PM10 is a
particulate matter that is 10 micrometers in size or about
25 times thinner than a human hair, while PM2.5 is much
smaller at 2.5 micrometers or about 100 times thinner than
human hair.
PM10 is
usually in the form of smoke, dirt, dust, mold, spores and
pollen that come from factories, farms and roads. PM2.5,
meanwhile, consists of toxic organic compounds and heavy
metals that come from vehicles, burning plants, and
smelting and processing of metals. Sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides are emitted primarily by motor vehicles as
a result of combustion of fossil fuel.
Carbon
monoxide is usually produced when there is an incomplete
combustion of fuels and biomass, usually through gas
cooking stoves, water heaters, charcoal grills, wood
stoves, motor vehicles, power tools with internal
combustion engines and even smoking.
Automated
stations set in various locations in Metro Manila and
other key cities in the country indicated that total
suspended particulates (TSP)—those small solid or liquid
particles that stay in the air—exceeded guideline values
in all monitoring-station locations. The highest annual
mean concentration of TSP was detected at the intersection
of Edsa and Congressional Avenue in Quezon City at 275
microgram per normal cubic meter against the guideline
value of 90 microgram per normal cubic meter (ìg/Nm3).
Outside
Metro Manila, the annual mean TSP guideline values
exceeded in 18 out of the 24 monitoring stations, with
Bocaue, Bulacan, registering the highest TSP mean value of
859 ìg/Nm3, exceeding the NAAQ guideline value almost 10
times. The figure is attributed to the presence of rice
mills near the sampling site.
Other
areas with more than twice the guideline value for TSP are
Baguio City, Alaminos City, San Fernando City in La Union,
Calapan City, Iloilo City and Zamboanga City.
The DENR
clarified, however, that the indicated levels represent
the pollution level only at the vicinity where monitoring
stations are situated and do not represent the entire city
or province where the stations are located.
With
regard to very fine particulates such as PM22,, the
monitoring data of the Department of Science and
Technology’s Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI)
showed that the annual mean of three monitoring stations
went beyond the guideline value of the Unites States
Environmental Protection Agency (Usepa). Major sources of
PM22 in Metro Manila are fuel burning and soil, according
to PNRI.
In a
similar study undertaken by the Manila Observatory,
dangerous PM2.5 level was frequently observed to exceed
Usepa standards. The study noted that more than half (or
56 percent) of daily PM2.5 levels along major roads such
as Edsa surpassed the acceptable standard.
As for
SO2, data from all monitoring stations indicated safe
levels, which are all below the NAAQ guideline value of 60
ìg/Nm3 a year. Other particles such as lead, carbon
monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone all registered below
the guideline values in all parts of the country.
Health
impacts of air pollution
A study by
Torres and Sabida (1991) of the University of the
Philippines-College of Public Health traced the cause of
high mortality and morbidity rates to respiratory
illnesses caused by PM10.
People
respond to air pollution differently depending on their
sensitivity to pollutants. The extent of harm it causes on
people rests on the extent of their exposure to damaging
chemicals, specifically on how long a person has been
exposed and the concentration of chemicals in the air.
Air
pollution affects health in both short and long term.
Short-term effects include irritation to the eyes, nose
and throat and infection on the upper respiratory tract,
such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Other effects are
headache, nausea and allergic reaction.
Air
pollution can also worsen asthma and emphysema conditions.
In the infamous 1952 London “Smog Disaster,” 4,000 people
reportedly died due to high concentration of pollutants in
the air.
Meanwhile,
long-term effects of pollution include development of
diseases, such as chronic respiratory disease, lung
cancer, heart disease and even damage to the brain,
nerves, liver, or kidneys. Continuous exposure to air
pollution leads to the aggravation of medical conditions
among the elderly and lung problems among growing
children.
Air
pollutants, such as ozone, metals and free radicals can
directly injure the lung tissue. Ozone can, likewise,
damage the alveoli in the lungs where oxygen and carbon
dioxide exchange.
When
organic pollutants reach the airway tissues, lungs respond
by releasing potent chemical mediators that may affect the
functions of other organs critically, such as those of the
cardiovascular system. The lungs may also inflame and
their functions impaired as a result of this response to
toxic insult.
The
cardiovascular system is also at risk when air pollutants
get into the system, swim in the bloodstream and find
their way into the heart. When this happens, various
chemical and biological substances may interact with the
system and cause structural changes, such as death of
cells and tissues and inflammations.
Some
pollutants may also cause changes in the rhythm and
contraction of the heart. In severe cases, it may result
to lethal arrhythmias, or disorders of the heart’s regular
rhythmic beating.
A World
Bank (WB) study indicated that in 2002, the main victims
of air pollution in the Philippines were jeepney drivers
who were highly at risk of acquiring pulmonary
tuberculosis (PTB) which affected 17.5 percent of them.
Bus drivers, too, including those driving air-conditioned
buses, ranked second among those affected by chronic
obstructive pulmonary diseases with 16.4 percent cases.
The study
also showed that at least 22 million, or one out of four,
Filipinos are suffering from or exposed to various stages
of TB.
Jeepney
drivers and commuters face the greatest health risk
because of prolonged exposure to vehicular pollution,
which is inevitable in their livelihood and daily routine.
Public
health and air quality
A 2004
report on public-health monitoring by the Department of
Health in 2003 showed that:
§
Fine
particulate matter or PM2.5, including ozone, pose serious
health concerns in Metro Manila;
§
Motor
vehicles are the major sources of particulate pollution in
Metro Manila;
§
Considerable morbidity and mortality caused by respiratory
and cardiovascular diseases could have been prevented if
Metro Manila had better air quality in 2002;
§
Every 10
ìg/Nm3 increase in PM10 also increases the incidence rates
for respiratory and natural mortality by 2.6 percent and
3.9 percent, respectively.
§
Outdoor
PM10 increases the same way as indoor PM10, where
cigarette smoking is seen as a significant contributor.
§
Households
with better cooking fuel quality had fewer occurrence of
hospital admission.
§
Liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) users had the lowest hospital
admissions at 19.3 percent compared with wood users (27.3
percent) and kerosene (25.3 percent)
§
Reported
deaths in Metro Manila that can be attributed to PM10
levels ranged from 230 to 390 persons in 2003.
Economic
impact of air pollution
How does
air pollution affect the economy? According to a WB study,
poor air quality threatens the people’s well-being and
productivity.
Particularly, air pollution affects the quality of life,
damages materials and vegetation, reduces tourism,
discourages foreign investments and others.
Further,
loss of productivity due to pollution-related illness is a
direct economic cost.
The study
revealed that filthy air costs the country 2,000 lives
lost prematurely, plus $1.5 billion in lost wages and
medical treatment.
At the
then-exchange rate of P53 to $1 when the study was made, a
whopping P79.5 billion was lost due to air pollution.
The WB
valued the 2,000 lives lost due to PM10 at $140 million
(or P7.42 billion); 9,000 people suffering from chronic
bronchitis at $120 million (or P6.36 billion); and 51
million cases of respiratory diseases at $170 million (or
P9.01 billion).
This is
not all. The World Bank report also pointed out that the
total health cost of exposure to particulate matters in
Metro Manila and three other urban areas comes close to
$430 million (or P22.8 billion) in 2001. The World Bank
determined the costs by computing the number of excess
deaths and incidence of diseases due to impacts of
pollutants. Reportedly, Filipinos spend about P2,000 a
year on air pollution-related health expenses.
Government
programs to reduce air pollution
The
Philippine Clean Air Act (Republic Act 8749) signed in
June 1999, is a comprehensive air-quality management
program that aims to achieve and maintain healthy air for
all Filipinos. The act took effect on November 25, 2000,
following the signing of its implementing rules and
regulations (IRR).
Following
the act, the government started implementation of several
initiatives to improve air quality, such as the use of
cleaner fuels (CME, ethanol, biofuels, LPG), phase-out of
two-stroke motorcycles and leaded gasoline, lowering of
sulfur in diesel and improvement of pedestrian facilities
and bikeways to encourage walking and biking.
The
government has also intensified drives for proper and
efficient implementation of emission tests, roadside
antismoke belching, preventive maintenance technologies
and monitoring of private-emission testing centers.
Further,
the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000
(Republic Act 9003) prohibits open burning of waste, which
is the chief source of harmful dioxin and furan in the
country. (Framelia V. Anonas, DOST S&T Media Service) | 
