Why PM 2.5 is more dangerous for children: In Delhi’s winter, the air becomes poisonous and in such a situation, the polluted particle PM2.5 present in the air is a killer which causes the most harm to children. In fact, 40 percent of this particle directly reaches the lungs of children through their breath. It has also been revealed in a recent study that due to bad air, not only are children getting sick today, but due to this, they may suffer from more serious lung diseases in the future. So let us know what this study says and what experts have to say about this pollution.
What does the study say?
The study states that in 8-9 year old children, PM2.5 reaches 40 percent directly into the depth of the lungs and this is the same part of the lungs where pollution remains stuck for the longest time and which also takes a long time to clear.
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Peer-review published in Direct Science says that extremely fine particles i.e. PM2.5 present in polluted air like Delhi are harming children by entering directly into their lungs. These particles are not only going into the lungs of older children but also of infants and about 30 percent of PM2.5 reaches the depth of their lungs.
However, the study also says that barely 1 percent of the coarse particles like PM10 are reaching the lungs, which means that the real poison for children’s breath is not PM10 but PM2.5.
Why is PM2.5 more dangerous?
The study says that most of the PM10 particles get trapped in the nose or throat, but PM2.5 passes through the air tubes of children and settles in the deepest part of the lungs and remains there for many months. This is why doctors believe that PM2.5 is the biggest enemy for children from infancy to adolescence.
According to the study, 55–95 percent of PM10 gets deposited in the head, nose and throat and 3–44 percent gets deposited in the respiratory tubes. 36–63 percent of PM2.5 accumulates in the head/nose and 28–52.7 percent in the depths of the lungs.
What do experts say
Dr. Manoj Kumar of Central for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) says. ‘In my peer-reviewed study (2019), the pulmonary deposition in 8–9 year old children was found to be 0.40, which means 40 percent of PM2.5 is deposited deep inside the lungs. PM2.5 was found highest in all 5 lobes of people of all genders and ages.
Dr. Manoj says, ‘If we want to save children, then reducing PM2.5 should be the first priority because these are the particles that go deep into the lungs and keep damaging the lungs for the longest time.’
The study also revealed that these particles accumulate the most in the lungs of 8-year-old children, while the least amount accumulates in the lungs of 28-month-old babies. But in both the amount of PM2.5 is many times more than PM10.
Most particles were found deposited in the lower parts of the lungs where about 66 percent of the particles were deposited. 66.4 percent pollution accumulates in the lower part of the lungs, 27.2 percent in the upper part and 6.4 percent in the middle part.
The most dangerous part is that the deeper parts of the lungs are unable to clean themselves. This means that once PM2.5 reaches there, it does not come out easily. In the future, these particles can cause toxicity, inflammation and lung diseases in the long run.
PM2.5 responsible for Delhi’s air pollution
The biggest responsible for air pollution in Delhi’s winter is not PM10 but PM2.5. This is why scientists are calling it very dangerous. The data obtained shows that during winter, 70 percent of the total particulate matter pollution in Delhi is of PM2.5 only and these particles are the most poisonous. For this reason, experts consider National Clean Air Program 2.0 (NCAP 2.0) as an opportunity to focus on PM2.5.
What do the 30 day figures say?
Data for 30 days from October 18 to November 16 show that PM2.5 is the major pollutant seen in Delhi’s air every day. According to experts, when PM2.5 is high in the air, it means that the sources of pollution are not road dust or construction but vehicles, industries, power plants, burning of garbage and secondary pollution. Even in such a situation, the rules that are in place still work only to suppress dust, which has no meaning.
Dr. Kumar says that current dust-control methods are not reducing the real cause. Unless the real causes of PM2.5 are worked out, improvement in Delhi’s air cannot be expected.
Input: Milan Sharma
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