To expose a long time to air pollutants can not only involve watery eyes, coughing or sore throat, it is also associated with effects such as heart disease, stroke, pulmonary diseases and cancer, for the case of adults, as well as acute respiratory infections in minors.
What are the 2.5 particles that caused the contingency and how do they harm the health
Thus designates it “Historical analysis of the health benefits associated with air quality in Mexico City between 1990 and 2015“, published by the School of Public Health TH Chan of Harvard, along with the Secretariat of Environment Capital (SEDEMA), the Secretariat of Health (SEDEA), the National Institute of Public Health, the Center for Latin American Studies David Rockefeller of Harvard ( DRCLAS), and the Mario Molina Study Center.
According to the study, people over the age of 65 are the most sensitive to ozone exposure, while minors are the pollutants.
“Each of these deaths among children implies many decades of loss of life expectancy. In contrast, deaths among adults due to ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary illness, or lung cancer usually imply a loss of life expectancy of perhaps one or two decades, “the analysis explains.
The document also found associations between the daily levels of PM10 (particles of aerodynamic diameter of 10 micrometers) and the risk of mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
They suffer from dizziness, allergies. This is the legal fight of citizens affected by the pollution of CDMX
However, to Juan Manuel Castro Albarrán, director of Human Capital Administration of the federal Secretariat of Health, there is not necessarily a direct relationship, as it points out that every disease has multiple causes
“There is no strict relation between the bad quality of the air with diseases. There is no direct relationship between pollution and the condition of diseases… They contribute to the development (of diseases), but they are not causal, “he explains in an interview with a political Animal.
Although Castro Albarrán points out that respiratory infections, diseases and ailments such as asthma, pneumonias, bronconeumonías and bronchitis are subject to epidemiological surveillance because of their relationship with the monitoring of environmental situations, not People are necessarily going to get worse by atmospheric conditions. “If there is a condition that can contribute but there is no direct causal relationship,” he explains.
Not only in CDMX there is bad air quality; In one year 14288 people died for this cause in 20 cities
The aforementioned analysis estimates that only in 2015, 29000 deaths were attributable to PM 2.5 contaminants (particles with a aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 microns or less), and 18.100 to ozone.
He also argues that the chronic exposure to pollutants PM 2.5 is responsible for 7.600 premature annual deaths nationwide.
For the metropolitan area of the Valley of Mexico, which for four days has recorded high levels of air pollution, the particles PM 2.5 are responsible for 3000 deaths, while for Mexico City, 6.100 casualties are associated with the Contamination by PM10 particles.
However, it also mentions that the measures implemented in Mexico City since 1990 against the pollutant concentrations have been able to reduce 22500 deaths in 25 years.
Most of the impact on this reduction occurred in deaths from ischemic cardiopathy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as strokes, lung cancer, and respiratory infections in minors, according to the document.
Contributions of specific causes of death (left panel) and age groups (right panel) to expected number of deaths
Premature (thousands) avoided by reducing exposures to PM 2.5 and ozone in Mexico City
“Our epidemiological analysis shows that the inhabitants of Mexico City live on average 3.2 years more thanks to improvements in air quality,” says the study, which also highlights that between 2006 and 2014 not activated Phase 1 environmental contingency.
This is also highlighted by the Director of Public health services, Jorge Alfredo Ochoa Moreno, who considers that the pollutants associated with serious health effects have reduced.
“The six pollutants have gradually gone downward. They have decreased 33% of the six contaminants: lead, ozone, sulfur oxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, the suspended particles of the PM10 and PM 2.5, “he mentions.
However, it also recognizes that in a monitoring conducted in 32 hospitals in Mexico City increases from 15 to 20% the number of incidence of diseases linked to air pollution when there are environmental contingencies.
Despite improvements in air quality, the historical analysis mentions that current levels are still above those that represent health risks, as it points out that only in the capital of the country there are more deaths due to air pollution than Unsafe sex, drug use, unsafe water sources, or passive smoking.
Main risk factors and associated premature deaths for Mexico City in 2013.
Should the verification program be changed at CDMX?
On 14 May, a court ruled that the notice that flexibilized the traffic policy in Mexico City should be suspended, because “it is a regressive environmental policy to the international norms governing this matter”.
A few days before, a district judge granted a provisional suspension to a group of people seeking to reverse the new vehicle Verification Program issued by the Ministry of Environment and the Government of Mexico City.
Both agree that failing to change the verification programme “would severely and irreparably affect fundamental human rights, such as health and a healthy environment”, due to the high pollution rates that can be recorded.
On July 1, 2016, the authorities implemented a verification system that included the measurement of fine particle emissions, the revision of the physical-mechanical conditions of the automobiles and the onboard diagnostic verification (OBD), which measures Through the automobile computer the critical contaminants.
However, after the arrival of the new government, headed by Claudia Sheinbaum, only the OBD test is applied, what to say about the citizens who filed the lawsuit “they put thousands of cars to circulate, because those who had hologram 1 now have 0, and They can drive whenever they want. ”
For the general Director of Air quality, Sergio Zirath Hernández Villaseñor, the old standard of vehicle verification allowed many of the cars to have access to hologram 1, without complying with the rules established to obtain it.
“In 2018 if your car could not do the OBD test, could be analyzed only with the test of the catalytic converter and even if it did not comply with the emissions of 250 parts per million, you were awarded Hologram 1”, argues in an interview with political Animal.
It also justified that in 2019 thousands cars passed from hologram 1 to 0, because it said that these are models after 2006, which have the possibility of performing the OBD test and emit less than 250 parts per million.
The Sedema insists that there are now more restrictive rules and that part of the problem is that motorists in the metropolitan Area register their vehicles in other entities.
The unit warns a response in the trial, because it says that in case the judge forces them to modify the verification they will not return to that established in 2018.
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