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Pollution and Health
Pollution is the inevitable result of modern economic development built on intensive
use of energy and materials. Few people know that the speed with which pollution
grows, unless carefully checked, far outstrips the rate of economic development. In
just 15 years (from 1945 to 1960), during the post-Second World War era, the
environment took a nosedive. This was a period of unprecedented economic growththe recovery of Germany and Japan and the high economic growth of the USA. Rivers
like the Rhine and the Thames had become stinking sewers and it was a health hazard
to breathe in Tokyo, London or Los Angeles.
Developing countries, especially in Asia, are today witnessing an economic boom
and, not surprisingly, without adequate pollution control measures in place, have
become some of the most polluted countries on earth. A study carried out by the
Centre for Science and Environment found that between 1975 and 1995, the Indian
economy grew by about 2.5 times but the total pollution load from industries went up
by about 4 times and from urban vehicles by about 8 times. 1
India's environment is getting rapidly polluted. Most of the Indian rivers, especially the smaller ones, are today toxic drains: Sabarmati, Bhadar, Yamuna, Damodar,
Chaliyar, Betwa, Noyyal, Bhawani, to name just a few. Groundwater, too, is becoming polluted, which is a major source of drinking water for over 90% of our rural
people and increasingly for urban people, too-and most of it is drunk without any
treatment.
Air pollution in Indian cities is also growing by leaps and bounds. The Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has just released the air quality data for 1997 for 70
cities and it shows that Shillong is the only town in India where the air quality in terms
of suspended particulates-the
most threatening air pollutant in Indian cities-was
clean round the year and on no single day did the air became even moderately
polluted.' In all the 69 other cities, the air quality was moderately, highly or critically
polluted (terms used and defined by the CPCB) round the year. In some cities, the air
quality was moderately poor round the year but reached high or critical levels of
pollution during certain days in the year. In 33 cities, that is, in about half of all the
cities monitored, the air was critically polluted round the year and there were days
when the air quality was nothing short of disastrous. Another 40% of the cities had
high or moderate levels of pollution round the year but on certain days the pollution
reached critical levels.
A study conducted by the World Bank' on the economic costs of environmental
degradation has estimated that these costs reach a staggering US$ 9.7 billion (around
Rs 34000 crore) per year or 4.5% of the gross domestic product in 1992. The health
costs of water and air pollution alone came to US$ 7 billion (around Rs 24 500 crore),
even when health effects due to hazardous industrial wastes, incidence of cancer,
emissions of ozone and carbon monoxide were not taken into account because of lack
of data.
Controlling pollution requires a multifaceted approach, beginning with good
monitoring programmes going on to regulatory and fiscal mechanisms to control
pollution activities backed up by good scientific research programmes to understand
the public health and environmental impacts of increasing pollution. Public awareness of the health and environmental risks of pollution is the most critical determinant
which generates the pressure on public authorities that is required in a democratic
society. Unfortunately, India's environmental governance is as yet extremely weak.
It will probably be more correct to say that it exists only on paper and in political
rhetoric.
The following are some of its key weaknesses. First, there has been no effort to
invest adequately in science for ecological security, even though the country takes
pride in its investments in science for food and national security. There is hardly any
money available, for instance, for epidemiological studies; in fact, research in
environmental health remains largely neglected. Second, the country's monitoring
programmes are archaic and practically useless. The main purpose of an air pollution
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monitoring programme is to inform the public about the quality of air within an hour
so that susceptible populations can take adequate precautions. However, in India, the
latest air quality data available goes back to 1997, almost as if the data are being
collected for some inane academic exercise. Third, the country's economic managers
have yet to start thinking about fiscal measures to control pollution. On the contrary,
many fiscal measures are promoting highly polluting activities. For example, the
gross difference in the pricing of fuels such as petrol and diesel is leading to an
unprecedented 'dieselization' of the Indian economy which can have disastrous
effects on public health. Fourth, the regulatory systems are failing to perform because
of political opposition to pollution control-big
polluters have monetary power while
small polluters are powerful vote banks-and
rampant corruption amongst pollution
control officials.
Public pressure is also weak. This is largely because oflack of knowledge. Lack
of adequate investment in scientific research and monitoring programmes means that
there is little knowledge available to society about the public health and environmental risks that the people are facing. The lack of information leads to complacency.
Non-governmental activists too are largely weak in scientific and technological
issues and, therefore, face difficulties in taking up anti-pollution campaigns. Without
hard scientific data, polluters also find it easy to confuse decision-makers and spread
disinformation.
Investments in environmental science are critical because technological developments keep throwing up new surprises. For example, till 5 years ago, diesel was
widely regarded as a good fuel because it is more efficient in that it gives more mileage
per litre than petrol. However, with the growing corpus of knowledge about the nature
of particulate pollution and improved understanding of its health effects, diesel is now
considered an extremely bad fuel for use in the urban environment." Firstly, scientists
have found that the smaller the particles the worse they are for respiratory and cardiac
disorders.' In fact, instead of measuring total suspended particulate matter (PM) in the
air, all western countries have moved on to measuring the PM 10 fraction (particles
~1 0 microns in size), also called respirable suspended PM. More recent research has
shown that the PM 2.5 fraction (fine particles) is even worse and western countries
are beginning to set standards for PM 2.5 and undertake control measures.v' The focus
is thus moving towards fine and ultrafine particles. At the same time, research has
shown that almost all the particles in diesel exhaust are less than 1 micron and they
are coated by highly carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.v" Epidemiological studies":" show strong relationships between levels of particulate pollution
and mortality and morbidity, as a result of which considerable research is now being
undertaken to understand the little understood aetiological pathways of mortality
caused by particulate pollution. The California Air Resources Board has already
declared diesel particles a toxic air contaminant and is identifying measures to reduce
diesel pollution. On the other hand, diesel vehicles are growing by leaps and bounds
in India and even though Indian cities have higher particulate pollution levels than
probably any other city in the world, there are not even a handful of scientists in the
country studying the health effects of particulate pollution.
Scientists and environmentalists must work together to ensure that sufficient funds
are made available for science for ecological security if the coming generations of
Indians are to live, breathe, drink and eat in a clean environment.
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3 Brandon C, Hommann K. The cost of inaction: Valuing the economy-wide COSIO/ environmental degradation in
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4 Findings of the scientific review panel on the report on diesel exhaust as adopted at the Panel's 22 April 1998
meeting. California Air Resources Board, 1998, www.arb.ca.gov
5 Wilson R (ed). Particles in our air. Concentrations and health effects. Boston:Harvard School of Public Health,
1996:45.
6 World Health Organization. Guidelines/or air quality. Vol. 7. Geneva:World Health Organization, 1999:37-8.
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Walsh MP. Global trends in diesel emissions control-A
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ANIL AGARWAL
Centre for Science and Environment
New Delhi
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-Editor