Instead of utilising given funds for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Pollution Monitoring System which is currently dysfunctional due to lack of funding since the Ministry of Environment’s devolution, the EPA is going to conduct a study assessment of the impact of air pollution on the respiratory health of school children.
The EPA has started this study in collaboration with Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is funding it. An EPA official told Pakistan Today, requesting anonymity, that the state-of-the-art system to monitor environmental pollution was no longer showing any results as the last air quality index was released a month ago, mainly because non-issuance of funds created problems in the maintenance of this system.
“Instead of utilising the available funds on the existing system they are being spent on a so-called study. Thus machinery worth million of rupees has been dysfunctional for months and air quality monitoring of the federal capital city has not been conducted,” he lamented. In a meeting held at the EPA office, the area selected for the current study is the town of Ternaul in Islamabad.
Experimental data will be collected from schools located within a two kilometre radius of a mobile air monitoring station. “For this study, two government schools from Ternaul and Schola Nova in F-8 sector have been selected. The selection of schools has been made in such a way that it covers all segments of society and contains gender balance,” the official said.Similar studies from Asian countries like India and Bangladesh also reported the impact of air pollution on children’s lungs.
Alarmingly, air pollution in Pakistan is increasing day by day and environmental managers, instead of taking precautionary measures, are wasting funds on a study to highlight the effects of pollution on human health, especially that of children. Numerous earlier studies suggest that particulate matters (PMs), especially PM10 and PM2.5, contribute to increased mortality and hospitalisations for cardiac and respiratory tract diseases. These PMs can penetrate into the alveoli of the lungs, and may cause serious damage to the developing lungs of children.
As most lung alveoli are formed post-natally, changes in the lung continue throughout adolescence and the developing lungs of children are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of air pollution than adult lungs. Children have increased exposure to these PMs compared to adults and are more susceptible to them because of higher ventilation rates, higher relative concentrations of particles into smaller lung volumes, and higher levels of physical activity. In addition, adverse impacts in childhood can continue throughout their adult lives.
In a meeting, the EPA Director General Asif Shuja Khan appreciated the efforts of the research team and said that the study would be used as a model to address health issues caused by air pollution. He also appreciated the efforts of Pak-EPA Director (Environmental Impact Assessment/Mont.) Asad Ullah Faiz who took the initiative and made it possible to start the study.
PMRC Executive Director Dr Huma Qureshi said she valued the efforts of the research team and added that keeping in view the abysmal state of the environment in Pakistan, further studies should also be conducted to identify the negative impacts of pollution on human health.
