'No conclusive data' directly linking high AQI to lung diseases: Govt tells parliament

The government of India told the country's parliament on Thursday that there is "no conclusive data" establishing a direct link between a higher Air Quality Index (AQI) and lung diseases. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh, however, acknowledged that air pollution is one of the triggering factors for respiratory ailments.

It is pertinent to note that Singh was responding to a question posed by BJP MP Laxmikant Bajpayee, who asked whether the government 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.

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It is pertinent to note that the ministry's response was in line with the comments the government made in past years on linkages between health issues and air pollution. On July 24 this year, it told the Upper House that there is “no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death exclusively by air pollution”.

At that time, the ministry had said, “Air pollution is one of the many factors affecting respiratory ailments and associated diseases. Health is impacted by several factors, which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc., of the individuals apart from the environment.”

The government maintains its past stance

Interestingly, a similar answer was given by the ministry on the issue last July in the Rajya Sabha. In the question posed on Thursday, Bajpayee also sought to determine whether lung elasticity among citizens of Delhi-NCR has drastically reduced to almost 50 per cent compared to people living in cities with good AQI levels.

The BJP MP further asked whether the government 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”.

In its reply, the ministry said that it has dedicated training modules 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.

“Information, education and communication (IEC) materials have been developed targeting air pollution-related illnesses in both English, Hindi and also regional languages," the reply read. "The National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH) has also developed customised IEC materials targeting various vulnerable groups such as school children, women, occupational vulnerable groups like municipality workers, etc," he added.

With inputs from PTI.