Mumbai (AFP) – India's cricket board on Wednesday said fireworks at Cricket World Cup matches in Mumbai and New Delhi will be banned due to hazardous pollution levels.
Issued on: 01/11/2023
The hosts will take on Sri Lanka at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Thursday where a win will extend their unbeaten streak to seven and seal a semi-final spot.
But concerns about air quality dominated news in the commercial capital of India, forcing the Board of Control for Cricket in India to take action.
"BCCI is sensitive to environmental concerns. I took up the matter formally with the ICC (International Cricket Council) and there won't be any fireworks display in Mumbai, which can add to the pollution level," secretary Jay Shah said in a statement."
"The BCCI acknowledges the urgent concern surrounding air quality in both Mumbai and New Delhi. While we strive to host the World Cup in a manner befitting the celebration of cricket, we remain steadfast in our commitment to prioritising the health and safety of all our stakeholders."
According to India's National Air Quality Index, air in Mumbai was "poor", a ranking which it warns has the possible health impacts of "breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure", when the team started training at 18.30 local time.
The concentration in Mumbai was four times above the recommended limit advised by the World Health Organisation.
"I mean, in an ideal world, you don't want a situation like this, but I'm pretty sure the concerned people are taking the necessary steps to avoid these kind of situations," India captain Rohit Sharma said Wednesday.
"It's not ideal, everyone knows that. But obviously, looking at our future generation, your kids, my kids, obviously, it's quite important that they get to live without any fear."
He added, "So, yeah, every time I get to speak outside of cricket, if we are not discussing cricket, I always talk about this, that you know we have to look after our future generation."
Mumbai is scheduled to hold another league game on November 7 between Afghanistan and Australia before they host the first semi-final on November 15.
Air in the Indian capital of New Delhi hovered between "poor" to "very poor" at different times of the day with the city awaiting its last World Cup match on Monday between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Pollution in Delhi once hit severe levels during a Test match in December, 2017 when nine of the 11 Sri Lankan players came out wearing masks after the tea break and Indian bowler Mohammed Shami vomited on the pitch.
© 2023 AFP
Beijing (AFP) – A thick haze has this week smothered Beijing and surrounding areas, with tens of millions of people in northern China under severe pollution warnings.
Issued on: 01/11/2023
Here's what you need to know about the smog in northern China:
Just how bad is it?
China's weather office has said "foggy and hazy" conditions are prevalent in the capital Beijing, the megacity of Tianjin, and parts of the provinces of Hebei, Shandong and Hubei, home to more than 100 million people in total.
Many of Beijing's 22 million residents donned face masks on Wednesday morning as they snaked through streets shrouded in a grey haze.
The pollution in some areas has been classified as "severe" and has at times lowered visibility to less than 50 metres (164 feet).
Beijing has experienced five days with "unhealthy" pollution levels in the last week, compared to just three such days in the past three weeks, air quality monitoring firm IQAir's data showed.
IQAir said Beijing was the third most-polluted major city on Earth on Wednesday, just ahead of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.
Beijing's concentrations of hazardous PM 2.5 particles were more than 20 times higher than World Health Organisation guidelines, the firm said.
PM 2.5 particles, if inhaled, can have serious health risks, linked to premature deaths in people with heart or lung disease, as well as a host of breathing and other health issues, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Are things getting better?
A decade ago, Beijing routinely choked in off-the-charts smog that stoked public health anxiety and was dubbed the "airpocalypse" by Western commentators.
China declared "war on pollution" after winning the Winter Olympics bid in 2015, shutting down dozens of coal plants and relocating heavy industries.
That has brought significant improvements, but air quality often remains below World Health Organization standards and severe pollution is common in China's capital.
In March and April, Beijing experienced six days when pollution levels were considered "very unhealthy" -- meaning air quality had reached emergency levels, data from the US embassy showed.
Beijing also experienced five days of "unhealthy" pollution levels around October and November last year.
China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving climate change, such as carbon dioxide.
A recent jump in approvals for coal-fired power plants has added to concerns that China will backtrack on its goals to peak emissions between 2026 and 2030 and become carbon-neutral by 2060.
What are the causes?
The capital's location plays a role. Nestled between deserts to the north and dense industrial clusters to the south and east, the direction of the prevailing wind can often determine whether the city sees blue skies or dense smog.
But the bad air is also man-made: highly-polluting heavy industry, the common use of coal burning for electricity and vehicle emissions, IQAir said.
Beijing's city government has blamed "unfavourable weather conditions" such as high humidity and unseasonably hot temperatures.
It has said that colder weather may help dissipate the pollution.
What steps have been taken?
The second-highest air pollution alert is in place in Beijing until the end of Thursday.
The alert orders businesses, builders and transport firms to cut their emissions as a matter of urgency.
Further curbs, such as temporary bans on the use of some high-emissions vehicles, will come into force if the highest alert -- already in force in parts of Hebei province -- is triggered.
Authorities have also urged residents to reduce outdoor activities and strenuous exercise during periods of high pollution.
© 2023 AFP
Ground breaking study reveals link between air pollution and incidence of Parkinson’s disease
A new study led by researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute has found that people living in regions with median levels of air pollution have a 56 percent greater risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those living in regions with the lowest level of air pollution.
The study, which will be published online on Monday, Oct. 30 in Neurology - the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology - was conducted to identify national, geographic patterns of Parkinson’s disease and test for nationwide and region-specific associations with fine particulate matter.
“Previous studies have shown fine particulate matter to cause inflammation in the brain, a known mechanism by which Parkinson’s disease could develop,” says Brittany Krzyzanowski, PhD, a researcher at Barrow Neurological Institute, who led the study. "Using state-of-the-art geospatial analytical techniques, we were, for the first time, able to confirm a strong nationwide association between incident Parkinson’s disease and fine particulate matter in the U.S.”
The study also found that the relationship between air pollution and Parkinson’s disease is not the same in every part of the country, and varies in strength by region. The Mississippi-Ohio River Valley was identified as a Parkinson’s disease hotspot, along with central North Dakota, parts of Texas, Kansas, eastern Michigan, and the tip of Florida. People living in the western half of the U.S. are at a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared with the rest of the nation.
“Regional differences in Parkinson’s disease might reflect regional differences in the composition of the particulate matter. Some areas may have particulate matter containing more toxic components compared to other areas,” says Krzyzanowski.
Although the authors have not yet explored the different sources of air pollution, Krzyzanowski notes there is relatively high road network density in the Mississippi-Ohio River Valley and the rust belt makes up part of this region as well. “This means that the pollution in these areas may contain more combustion particles from traffic and heavy metals from manufacturing which have been linked to cell death in the part of the brain involved in Parkinson’s disease,” says Krzyzanowski.
The population-based geographic study identified nearly 90k people with Parkinson’s disease from a Medicare dataset of nearly 22-million. Those identified with having Parkinson’s disease were geocoded to the neighborhood of residence, enabling researchers to calculate the rates of Parkinson’s disease within each region. The average annual concentrations of fine particulate matter in these specific regions were also calculated. After adjusting for other risk factors, including age, sex, race, smoking history and utilization of medical care, Barrow researchers were then able to identify an association between a person’s previous exposure to fine particulate matter and their later risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.
“Population-based geographic studies like this have the potential to reveal important insight into the role of environmental toxins in the development and progression of Parkinson’s, and these same methods can be applied to explore other neurological health outcomes as well,” says Krzyzanowski.
Researchers hope the data from this novel study will help enforce stricter policies that will lower air pollution levels and decrease the risk for Parkinson’s disease and other associated illnesses.
“Despite years of research trying to identify the environmental risk factors of Parkinson’s disease, most efforts have focused on exposure to pesticides,” says Krzyzanowski. “This study suggests that we should also be looking at air pollution as a contributor in the development of Parkinson’s disease.”
The Barrow study was supported by the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
Click here to read the full study.
JOURNAL
Journal of Neurology
ARTICLE TITLE
Fine Particulate Matter and Parkinson Disease Risk Among Medicare Beneficiaries
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
30-Oct-2023
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