NEW DELHI: The government has told Parliament that there is “no conclusive data” establishing a “direct correlation” between higher air quality index (AQI) levels and lung diseases.In a written response to a Parliament question in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, the Union environment ministry, however, underlined that air pollution is “one of the triggering factors for respiratory ailments and associated diseases”.The ministry’s response was in line with comments in past years on linkages between health issues and air pollution. On July 24, it told the Upper House that there is “no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death exclusively by air pollution”.The ministry had said, “Air pollution is one of the many factors affecting respiratory ailments and associated diseases. Health is impacted by a number of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity etc. of the individuals apart from the environment.” A similar answer was given by the ministry on the issue on July 25 last year in the Rajya Sabha. The ministry’s response on Thursday came to a question by BJP member Laxmikant Bajpayee, who asked whether the govt was aware that studies and medical tests have confirmed that prolonged exposure to hazardous AQI levels in Delhi-NCR is leading to lung fibrosis, an irreversible reduction in lung capacity. He also sought to know whether lung elasticity among citizens of Delhi-NCR has drastically reduced to almost 50% compared to people living in cities with good AQI levels.The BJP Rajya Sabha MP further asked whether the govt has any “solution to save millions of residents of Delhi/NCR from growing deadly diseases like pulmonary fibrosis, COPD, emphysema, reduced lung function and continuously declining lung elasticity”.The ministry in its reply said dedicated training modules have been developed in the area of air pollution for programme managers, medical officers and nurses, nodal officers, sentinel sites, frontline workers such as ASHA, vulnerable groups including women and children, and occupationally exposed groups like traffic police and municipal workers.It said, “Information, education and communication (IEC) materials have been developed targeting air pollution related illnesses in both English, Hindi and also regional languages.“The National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH) has also developed customized IEC materials targeting various vulnerable groups such as school children, women, occupational vulnerable groups like municipality workers, etc.”
