Hyderabad air like smoking 2 cigarettes a day

HYDERABAD: Metaphorically, every Hyderabadi smoked at least 1.75 cigarettes a day all through the last one year. At least that’s what the latest PM 2.5 levels of the city indicate, if physicists Richard Muller and daughter Elizabeth Muller’s 2015 method of measuring air pollution is considered.
Through extensive research, these scientists from Berkeley Earth concluded that a day’s exposure to 22 mg cubic per metre of PM 2.5 — tiny particulate matter created through emissions from industries, burning fuels, fine heavy metals etc — is equivalent to smoking one cigarette.

“The high concentration of PM 2.5 is equivalent to even kids smoking two cigarettes and that can cause serious pulmonary complications. Early episodes of asthma, bronchitis and chronic inflammatory lung diseases are among few of those. In the long run, the lung capacity can be reduced, resulting in severe damage,” said Dr Viswesvaran Balasubramanian, senior interventional pulmonologist and sleep medicine specialist at Yashoda Hospitals, Malakpet.
Doctors said that increased exposure to PM 2.5 levels may lead to cardiovascular and respiratory issues as PM 2.5 not only gets into the lungs but also enters the blood streams.
“We are observing a rise in interstitial lung diseases among people over the past few years. This usually triggers following excessive exposure to hazardous pollutants. Not just this, people are becoming more and more allergic resulting in further health issue. With the pollution levels rising, the only solution is to be vigilant of symptoms for an early treatment,” said Dr A Raghukanth, senior consultant pulmonologist, Medicover Hospitals.